A Big Responsibility
by elang4
Summary: TJ has tragically died in a car accident, causing Liz to revert back to her old ways. Jess finds out and makes a split decision to get Doula away from her. This follows Jess and Luke as they try and handle this situation. Throw Lorelai and Rory into the mix and this might be a bit of a rollercoaster journey. Javajunkie and possible literati.
1. Chapter 1

**So this new idea came to me recently and as I feel like This is Life may possibly be coming to an end, I thought I might get the first chapter up for this. Basically this is set during season five so Liz and TJ have got married, Luke and Lorelai are together, but also Liz and TJ have already had Doula in this. A brief summary is that TJ has tragically died in a car accident and that has sent Liz into a downward spiral and back to her old ways. Jess goes to visit and is shocked by what he finds and makes the split decision to take Doula with him. This follows him and Luke as they decide how to handle the situation. But nothing's ever easy especially now Luke is with Lorelai and she isn't exactly Jess' biggest fan. And then throw in Rory to the mix and there's a whole lot of unresolved emotions there.**

 **Sorry it's a short chapter but it's sort of a set up chapter! The next will be longer, I promise.** **Hope you enjoy! :)**

Chapter 1

Luke opened the door to his flat and was shocked to see Jess standing there late in the evening and was even more surprised to see him carrying a baby carrier with Doula in. He hadn't seen Jess since Liz and TJ's wedding which was six months ago now and although they parted on good terms, he wasn't sure when he would next see his nephew. "Jess?" He said concerned.

"I need your help." Jess said.

* * *

 _Jess frowned as he waited for Liz to answer the door of the house. He rang the doorbell again but still there was no answer. He was starting to get annoyed that no one was obviously in and he had made the long trip to come after Liz had begged him to spend some time with them when he suddenly heard some crying coming faintly from the house. He frowned again and knocked on the door this time. There was still no answer so he got the spare key from under the plant pot and let himself in. "Liz?" He called but was met with no answer. He followed the crying through to the living room and was shocked by the sight. All over the floor and the counters were empty bottles and cans of wine and beer. And as a 1 year old Doula was sitting in a little playpen, crying her eyes out, his so called mother was lying on the couch passed out drunk. Jess felt himself getting angrier and angrier but he went over to Doula and picked her up, comforting her gently. It was then that he saw Liz starting to stir, opening her eyes and looking at him in surprise._

" _What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jess said angrily._

" _Jess?" She slurred slightly, obviously not having slept all the drink off. "Jess!" She said happily. "You're here!"_

" _What the hell is happening here?!" He repeated._

" _What do you mean? I just had a little drink." She said._

" _A little drink? Look at the place!" He exclaimed._

" _I'm allowed to have a drink and let my hair down every so often." Liz said defensively._

" _Not when you have a kid depending on you! Anything could have happened to her!" Jess said angrily. "Where the hell is TJ anyway?"_

" _Dead." She said bluntly, crossing her arms against her chest._

" _What?" Jess said shocked._

" _He was in a car crash a month ago. He died the same day in hospital." Liz said matter of factly._

 _Jess was shocked. He hadn't been expecting that. "Why...why didn't you tell me? Or Luke?"_

" _Because I'm fine! I'm coping!" Liz exclaimed._

" _You're obviously not! It's the afternoon and you're blind drunk!" Jess snapped. Doula started crying in his arms again as the shouting continued which made Jess comfort her a bit again. He looked back at Liz. "Look, you need to snap out of this. I'm sorry about TJ. Even though I thought he was crazy, I know you loved him. But this isn't the answer." He said trying to stay calm for Doula's sake._

" _Who are you to tell me what to do and how to live my life?" Liz snapped getting defensive again. "If I want a drink, I can have a drink! I'm an adult." She said her voice getting louder. "Besides I've got Liam to support me!"_

" _Who the hell is Liam?" Jess exclaimed just as the flush of the toilet was heard from down the hallway and a few seconds later, a burly man appeared. Jess narrowed his eyes and his mind flashed back to all the men his mother had got with when he was younger. "I can't believe you!" He shouted angrily at Liz. "Screwing me up wasn't enough for you, huh? You have to do it to Doula as well?!"_

" _Hey don't talk to her like that!" Liam narrowed his eyes at Jess._

" _I'd really recommend you not talking to me right now." Jess said menacingly._

" _No he's right! You have no right talking to me like that! I'm your mother and I deserve some respect." Liz snapped angrily._

" _Yeah well respect is earned!" Jess snapped. "You may have screwed up my life but there's no way in hell that I'm going to let you screw up her life as well. We're leaving." He said spotting Doula's baby carrier. He went over and put her in it. "Drink yourself to oblivion, Liz. Because I'm done with you. For good." Jess said venomously before picking up the baby carrier._

" _Don't you dare take my baby!" She screamed._

" _Watch me." Jess snapped before storming out of the house._

* * *

"TJ's really..." Luke said in shock after he had listened to his nephew's recollection of what had happened that day.

"Yup." Jess said quietly as he sat on the couch in the flat staring down at Doula. He slowly glanced up at Luke. "I didn't know where else to go. I just knew I had to get Doula out of there." He said.

"No, you did the right thing. I'm glad you came to me." Luke said, still trying to get his head round everything. "So your mom..."

"Has reverted back to old Liz." Jess said bitterly. "Meaning booze and men are the most important things to her."

"Men?" Luke said shocked.

"Oh yes, it looks like she's moved on from TJ very quickly." Jess said dryly.

"Geez..." He said. He thought for a moment. "Ok, so how about you stay here for the night and then I'll contact Liz tomorrow and try and talk some sense into her?" He suggested.

"You won't be able to." Jess said. "Not when she's like this."

"I'm sure I can make her see that what she's doing is wrong and that she needs to focus on Doula and focus on being a good mom to her." Luke said.

"I thought you were smart." Jess snapped angrily.

"What?" Luke said surprised by the hostility in his nephew's voice.

"Don't you think that when I was 10 and she was seeing these guys who beat her black and blue and then turned on me as well, I didn't try to beg her to stop the drinking and the drugs and move away just her and me so we could start again? Don't you think that when I was 12 and she accidentally took an overdose, I didn't beg her to go clean? I begged her my whole life, Luke, to change who she was! I begged her to change for me! But she couldn't care less! And nothing you say will change anything! She's back to being her true self and I'll be damned if I let Doula go through what I had to go through as a kid. I won't let that happen! I won't!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Ok I'm sorry!" Luke said shocked by his outburst. He watched as his nephew tried to regain his composure. "I'm sorry." He said quietly.

Jess let out a shaky breath. "No, I'm sorry." He said after a moment. "It's not your fault Liz is a carwreck. I shouldn't have taken all that out on you."

"It's ok." Luke said. He sighed as he sat down next to him and glanced at his niece. He then glanced at Jess. "We'll come up with another plan ok?"

Jess nodded slowly. "I'm not letting her screw up Doula like she screwed up me." He said quietly. "It's not happening."

"I won't allow that either." Luke assured him. "But we need to think about this logically ok? Why don't we get some sleep and we can talk about this in the morning? This little one must be exhausted."

"And probably hungry as well. Who knows when Liz would have fed her last." Jess said.

"So food then bed." Luke nodded. "You hungry?" He asked.

"A bit." Jess admitted.

"Then let's eat and then we can get some rest." He said.

"Ok." Jess said letting out a breath. "I'm just going to..uh.." He said gesturing to the bathroom.

"Oh of course!" Luke said.

"Hey Luke?" Jess said as he turned round just outside the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." He said sincerely.

Luke gave him a small smile. "We'll sort this out together ok?" He assured him.

"Thanks." Jess nodded. He turned to go into the bathroom.

"Jess?" Luke said stopping him.

"Yeah?" He said turning around.

"You're not a screw up." He said softly. "You may have made some mistakes in your time but you're not a screw up."

Jess just nodded awkwardly.

"I'm proud of you." Luke told him.

"Thanks." Jess said self consciously before disappearing into the bathroom.

Luke walked to the cupboards in his kitchen, leaning on the counter for a moment. He let out a big breath and tried to get his head round everything that had happened and everything Jess had told him. He knew Liz had struggled in the past and he knew it hadn't been pleasant for Jess but he hadn't known the extent of it. He had also thought Liz had finally got through it and had found happiness. TJ may not have been his choice for his sister but he knew TJ had made Liz very happy. He couldn't believe that was all lost now and it seemed like she had gone spiralled back down to how she was before. He couldn't blame Jess for getting Doula out of there but he knew this would only be the beginning. He didn't know what was going to happen but he knew he had to be there for Jess and Doula. They needed him.

 **So I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Let me know what you think and whether you'd like me to continue with this. :) If you fancy following or reviewing, it would be greatly appreciated! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow thank you so much for all your support for the first chapter! I'm glad you're liking the idea so here's the next chapter. :)**

Chapter 2

Luke woke up early the following morning. He was startled suddenly by crying and, for a moment, he had forgotten what had happened the night before but it all came back to him where he saw Doula crying in her carrier. They didn't have a cot or anything so they had to put her to sleep in the carrier Jess brought her in. He got up and went and picked Doula up, comforting her as he did so. Her crying soon subsided. He glanced over at Jess who was still asleep so he quietly took Doula downstairs and started getting breakfast ready for all of them. He was turning on everything in the kitchen and filling the coffee jugs up when suddenly the diner phone rang which made him jump. He suddenly thought it could be Liz and he grabbed it quickly. "Liz?" He answered.

"Now there I was thinking you'd be missing me and waiting for my call. My mistake." Lorelai's teasing voice sounded at the other end.

"Hey." Luke said softly. "Sorry, I just...I was sort of expecting it to be Liz."

"Is everything ok? You sound distracted." Lorelai said.

Luke sighed. "I've just got a bit of a situation here, that's all."

"What sort of situation?" She asked.

"TJ died." He told her.

"What? When?" Lorelai exclaimed shocked.

"A few weeks ago apparently. Liz isn't doing so good so I've got Doula here but I don't know what to do. I've not got the first clue how to look after a baby!" He exclaimed.

"You've looked after Doula before."

"Yeah for like an afternoon. Not for...well this long..." Luke said.

"Well...how long are you looking after her for? Did Liz say?" Lorelai said confused.

"I haven't seen her. Jess said he found her passed out on her couch drunk and apparently she's moved on from TJ pretty quickly." He said.

"Wait, Jess? What's he got to do with this?" She frowned.

"Oh...well, he's here too. He was the one who brought Doula here." Luke said. "Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned that..."

"Nope, definitely didn't mention Jess was there." Lorelai said.

"Well he was there for a visit and he found Doula there crying and I don't know, apparently he and Liz had this massive argument and he ended up bringing Doula here." Luke told her.

"Well...did Liz ask him to?" She asked.

"No. I think it was a split decision. He just wanted to get Doula out of there and he didn't know where to go so he came here." He said.

"Well I'll give him that. At least he didn't just run away with her. I'd hate to think how she would turn out with him as her role model." Lorelai said.

"What's that meant to mean?" Luke frowned.

"Nothing. It was just a joke." Lorelai laughed.

"Well it's not a very funny situation. I don't know what to do." He said.

"Ok, calm down. How about you bring Doula over here? I'm assuming you haven't got all the essentials for her?" She said.

"No, nothing."

"Well ok, we can go shopping and then maybe we can chat about what we can do." Lorelai said.

"Ok great." Luke said relieved. "Thanks Lorelai. I really appreciate this."

"Hey, she's your niece. I want the best for her too. Maybe we can talk to Liz and talk some sense into her?"

"I don't know..." Luke said.

"Well we can always try." Lorelai smiled. "So, come around once you're ready?"

"Sure. I'll wait for Jess to wake up and then we'll all head round." He said.

"Oh..uh..ok..."

"What?"

"Oh nothing. I guess I'll see you all in a bit then." Lorelai said.

Luke sighed. "I know you and Jess aren't exactly each other's number ones fans. But you saw him at the wedding. He's grown up a lot since he lived here. He really has."

"Yeah you keep saying. I'll see you in a bit, hon." She said before hanging up.

Luke sighed but put the phone back on the wall. He was brought out of his thoughts by Jess' voice.

"Luke?" He called.

"Down here!" Luke called.

Jess appeared after a few seconds. "Doula here?" He asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, I brought her down here with me because she was crying." Luke told him.

"It's ok. I just thought...well I thought maybe Liz had come to get her back." Jess admitted.

"Oh. Right. Well no, I haven't heard from her." He said.

"Figures." He shook his head.

"Hungry?" Luke asked.

"I could eat." Jess nodded.

"Take a seat and I'll make us something."

"Sounds good." He nodded and sat down at the counter.

Luke glanced at him as he headed to the kitchen and smiled slightly as he saw his nephew check on Doula and speak softly to her.

They were soon both sat at the counter eating breakfast. They gave Doula small pieces of the food as well and she was happily eating it. Luke glanced over at Jess. "So..uh..Lorelai called earlier." He said casually. "I mentioned the situation with Doula and she wants to help so I said we'd go round there after we'd eaten." He said.

Jess was quiet for a moment before glancing at him. "So I'll wait here then huh?" He said.

"No. I told her we'd all go." Luke said.

"And she was ok with that?" Jess raised his eyebrows.

"A lot of time has gone past, Jess. I want you there ok? You have as much of a right to have a say in how to handle this as I do." Luke said. "Please?"

Jess sighed but nodded. "Fine." He said.

"Good. I'll clean these plates up and then we'll get going." He said, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"Hey Luke, do you know if...uh..." Jess said hesitantly.

"Rory's at Yale this weekend. Something to do with the newspaper or something." Luke said understanding what he was asking.

"Huh." He said.

"You and her...You're..."

"Ancient history." Jess said quickly.

"Ok..." Luke said unconvinced but he let it go for now.

* * *

"I just don't understand why we don't just go and see her." Lorelai said later that day as they were all sat in the living room of the Crap Shack. "We can double team her." She told Luke.

"It won't work." Jess said.

"How do you know if you don't try it?" Lorelai said.

"Because I know my mother and it won't work." Jess repeated.

"Well maybe you don't know your mom as well as Luke knows his sister." Lorelai said getting annoyed. "It's not like you're exactly close, is it? We have to think of the welfare of Doula. If a kid can stay with their mom, we should make sure that happens."

"You think I don't care about Doula?" Jess frowned.

"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying..."

"What? What are you saying?" Jess said getting annoyed as well.

"I'm just saying..." She said trying to remain calm. "I'm just saying that maybe your opinion of how your mom was in the past is hindering your judgement..."

"I don't believe this." Jess said getting up.

"Jess..." Luke warned.

"No. I'm not taking this. I'm not going to apologise for wanting Doula to have a different childhood than I had! She's my sister!" He exclaimed angrily.

"And you said he'd grown up..." Lorelai mumbled.

"What?" Jess snapped.

"Lorelai..." Luke sighed.

"What? You keep saying he's grown up but it's clear he's still the angry kid who arrived here three years ago. And you think he knows what's best for Doula?" She said.

"She's my sister!" Jess exclaimed. "You're the one who has no say in what happens. She's our family. Mine and Luke's! Not yours!"

"Yeah, like anyone would trust you with a kid." Lorelai snorted. "You can't even have a stable relationship."

Jess shook his head. "Everything always goes back to Rory, doesn't it?"

"You broke her heart!" Lorelai snapped.

"You know, I may have made mistakes but Rory wasn't perfect either." He snapped.

"Don't you dare blame her..." She warned.

"Why? Oh yeah, because she's so perfect. Princess Rory of Stars Hollow. She can never do anything wrong." Jess mocked.

"Hey!" Lorelai frowned.

"Look, Rory and I are over. You got what you want so why do you still care so much?"

"Yes it's what I wanted. And you know what, Rory has moved on and she's very happy. Without you. She's got a new boyfriend, you know." She said snidely.

"Why would I know that?" Jess frowned.

"Well you know now." She shrugged.

"You know what, forget this." Jess shook his head. "I tried." He told Luke. "But this is useless. I'm just going to take Doula with me. You don't have to worry about anything." He said picking Doula up and the bag of essentials they had bought her. "I guess I'll see you around." Jess told Luke before leaving.

"Jess wait!" Luke called after him but was met with the front door closing shut. He turned on Lorelai. "Why did you have to do that?" He said frustrated.

"What are you talking about? I was being polite! He was the one that kicked off!" Lorelai said shocked that he was mad at her.

"Oh yeah, and you didn't provoke him at all, right?" Luke shook his head.

"Luke..."

"No! Lorelai, I love you but Jess is my nephew. He may have made mistakes in his life but he loves Doula. And now they're both out there, alone, with noone to help them. And it's all thanks to your past grudge against him!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, don't turn this all on me! Jess broke Rory's heart! He tore her apart! I get to hate the guy who did that!" She exclaimed angrily.

"I get that. I get that you care about Rory, of course you do. But Jess is my nephew. I'm not just going to abandon him because you don't like him." Luke said.

"I wasn't saying you should..."

"No, instead you attacked him when it actually took a lot for him to even come here in the first place. He came back to Stars Hollow to get help and now...well I'm guessing he wished he hadn't. And now I have no idea where he will go. That's my family out there, Lorelai! They're out there alone." He exclaimed. "I have to go look for them." He said storming to the door.

"Luke wait!" Lorelai exclaimed rushing after him.

"What? Lorelai, I'm not in the mood right now." Luke sighed.

Lorelai sighed. "I'll come with you to look ok?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

"Why would you do that? Wouldn't you prefer it if he just disappeared? So long as he's nowhere near Rory, you're good." He said bitterly. "God forbid Jess makes a mistake. It's not like he slept with someone who was married, is it?"

"Hey, that's not fair!" She frowned.

"Why? Rory can make mistakes but Jess can't? That's what's not fair!"

"I can't believe you would..." Lorelai said shocked.

"Look, I'm not doing this now. I need to find them. You do what you want. Like you normally do anyway." He snapped before leaving the house.

* * *

After an hour of looking, Lorelai found Luke in the square. She took a deep breath before walking up to him. "Anything?" She asked hesitantly.

"No." He sighed. "He's not at the flat. He's not anywhere. And he's not answering his phone either." He said collapsing on the step infront of the diner.

Lorelai sighed and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry." She said.

"You don't have to..." He said.

"No I do." She said.

"No. You really don't." Luke said. "Not if you don't mean it."

"Luke..." Lorelai said quietly.

Luke sighed. "I get it. I do, ok? I get why you don't like Jess. He's made mistakes, I know that. But he really is trying. He's grown up a lot since then. I know you don't believe me but he has. You don't have to like him. But can't you at least act civil? For me?"

"Luke..."

"He's my family, Lorelai. He means a lot to me. I deal with your parents. Can't you do the same with Jess?" He said.

Lorelai sighed. "I guess I could try..."

"That's all I'm asking." Luke smiled gratefully.

"I am sorry I made him run off with Doula. I never meant that to happen." She said sincerely. "You know I care about Doula."

"I know." He said. "And I'm sorry about what I said about Rory. It was uncalled for." He said. Lorelai just nodded. He sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair. "I just don't know where he would go. I don't know what to do. I really don't. Where would he go?" He said concerned.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jess was slowly walking up the porch steps at the Crap Shack. He had found himself at the bus station but when the bus came, he just couldn't make himself get on it. He glanced at Doula and knew she was the real reason he hadn't got on that bus. Lorelai was right about one thing, how would he be able to look after a kid all by himself? He sighed, took a deep breath before hesitantly knocking on the door. He braced himself for another confrontation with Lorelai but as the door opened, he froze. This was the one person he dreaded coming face to face with even more so than Lorelai. "Rory..." He managed to say.

"Jess..." Rory said equally as shocked.

 **So I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think as I love reading your reviews! Thanks again for your support! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow thank you so much for all your support and reviews! I'm really glad you're enjoying this. Here's the next chapter! :)**

Chapter 3

"I..uh..I'm sorry...I'll go.." Jess said quickly, immediately turning round and starting to walk off. He wasn't ready to face Rory yet, he just wasn't.

"Jess, wait!" Rory called but to no avail.

Jess just wanted to get away from her. He wasn't expecting to see her so soon. He could hear her calling after him but he just kept walking until he reached the square. He walked towards the diner and it was then that he spotted Luke and Lorelai sat on the front step. He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, before walking towards them.

"Jess!" Luke exclaimed getting up, spotting him immediately.

"You've got a visitor." Jess told Lorelai gruffly.

"What?" She said surprised.

"Girl, brown hair, 16 years younger than you. Ring any bells?" He said.

"Rory?" Lorelai said confused. "But she said she had to stay at Yale this weekend."

"Well she's definitely not at Yale." Jess said gruffly.

"You saw her?" Lorelai asked hesitantly.

"Yup. But don't worry, I just walked away straight away, very rudely I may add. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that." Jess said sarcastically.

"Jess..." She tried.

"Forget it. I'm going upstairs." He mumbled before going to walk inside the diner.

"Wait, you're staying?" Luke asked hopefully.

"Got nowhere else to go." Jess mumbled before disappearing inside the diner.

Lorelai glanced at Luke and sighed. "I better head home. I'm guessing Rory will want an explanation." She said.

"Yeah.." Luke said, glancing up at the diner.

"We're ok, right?" Lorelai asked quietly.

Luke glanced at her. He sighed and nodded. "Yeah we're ok." He said softly. "Go to Rory. I'll talk to Jess." He said.

"I do want to help with Doula. I hope you know that." She said.

"I know." Luke said. He gave her a quick peck before watching her leave. He took a deep breath before going up to the diner apartment, where he found Jess grabbing a beer out of the fridge. "Is that wise?" He asked cautiously.

"Probably not." He shrugged but continued to drink it anyway.

Luke sighed and sat down at the table with him. "So what made you come back?" He asked.

"Like I said before, I have nowhere to go." Jess shrugged.

"That's never stopped you before." Luke pointed out.

"Yeah..well now I have Doula to think about." He said. "I was at the bus stop and I was all determined to get on the first bus out of here but I looked down at her and I just knew I couldn't." He shrugged. "Liz sent me here three years ago and it was the best thing she ever did for me so I thought it might be good for Doula."

"Well...I'm glad you came back." Luke gave him a small smile.

"Yeah?" Jess said glancing at him. "Even though I'm a screwed up kid who screws up everyone he comes in contact with." He said dryly.

"I never thought you were screwed up. And I still don't." Luke said firmly.

Jess snorted. "Then you're delusional."

"Hey, Jess, you may have made mistakes in the past yes. But who hasn't? I know I have." Luke said. "You are not a screw up."

"I doubt Lorelai would agree with you there." Jess said.

"Yeah..well...I spoke to her about that." He said.

"Uh huh, sure." Jess said.

"I did. I told her that you and Doula were my family and if she couldn't be civil to you, I couldn't be with her." Luke said.

"You said that?" Jess raised his eyebrows.

"No." Luke admitted. "But I did shout at her. I told her you may have made mistakes but it's not like she hasn't or Rory for that matter."

Jess smirked slightly. "I'm sure she took that very well."

"Not really but we're ok. I think I gave her something to think about." He said.

"Sure." Jess said not convinced. "And I doubt Rory could ever make mistakes by the way. What happened between us was all down to me." He said quietly.

"Maybe so. But she's not perfect. I love her, I know you know that. But it doesn't mean she hasn't made mistakes just like you." Luke said.

"Like what?" Jess frowned.

"Like...well, it doesn't matter." Luke brushed him off, not wanting to tell him about Dean. "But trust me. No one's perfect."

Jess shrugged. "Well I don't care what people think of me. What I care about is Doula. And what we need to do."

"And we will decide what to do, together." Luke nodded. "If you'll let me help..." He added.

Jess glanced at him and nodded. "Why do you think I came to you in the first place?" He said quietly.

"Because you have nowhere else to go?" Luke smirked slightly.

Jess smirked. "Maybe." He said. He glanced at him. "Doula needs you in her life. Just like...well just like I've needed you in mine." He admitted.

"Well I'm here. I'm always here." He said.

Jess nodded. "Thanks." He said gruffly. "And..uh..thanks for standing up for me with Lorelai..." He said.

"So you saw Rory huh? That must have been weird..." Luke said.

"Didn't have much time to process it." Jess lied. "Just walked away quickly. It's not like she'd want to talk to me anyway."

"You meant a lot to her, Jess. I'm sure she'd want to know you're doing ok." Luke said cautiously.

"She's got a new boyfriend now, remember. Lorelai made sure to tell me that. Why would she care about me?"

"You still meant a lot to her." Luke shrugged.

"Well...we're ancient history. It's over." Jess said quietly.

"Ok." Luke said unconvinced. "Want something to eat?"

"Sure." Jess nodded and with that, the subject of Rory was dropped much to Jess' relief.

* * *

"Poor Jess..." Rory said quietly, after Lorelai had explained the situation.

"Poor Jess?" Lorelai said surprised.

"Yeah I mean, that must have been surreal walking into that scene at Liz's house. It must have brought back memories." Rory shrugged.

"Sure..." Lorelai said.

"I think it's good that he got Doula out of there." She said.

"You do?"

"Don't you?" Rory said confused.

"What? Oh yeah, of course! It was good he got Doula out of that situation. Of course!" Lorelai said.

Rory looked at her weirdly. "Ok then..."

"So...you're not feeling...well...weird? Knowing Jess is here?" Lorelai asked cautiously.

Rory shrugged. "A little. But he should be here. Luke cares about him and Doula. And I know Jess cares about him. Luke's the only person who he actually means something to him. It makes sense for him to come here."

"I guess..." Lorelai said.

Rory saw Lorelai giving her a look. "What?" She said.

"So..uh..how are things going with you and Logan?" She asked innocently.

"Fine, I guess." Rory shrugged.

"You guess? I thought you two were happy." Lorelai said.

"We are."

"That doesn't sound very convincing." She said.

"We just haven't seen each other that much recently, that's all. He said he'd call but he hasn't yet." Rory said.

"So why don't you ring him?" Lorelai asked.

"And look desperate? No thanks." Rory said.

"You could invite him here." Lorelai suggested.

"Why?" Rory said confused.

"Well wouldn't you like to see him? And it would be nice to meet the guy who's swept my daughter off her feet." She said.

"So this has nothing to do with Jess being here?" Rory said.

"What? No!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Uh huh..." She said unconvinced.

"Honestly! I just want you to be happy."

"You've never been comfortable talking about Logan before. I know you. You think he's one of the society boys. So why are you suddenly singing his praises?" Rory said.

"Because...well, because...because I want you to be happy, I said that! He makes you happy." Lorelai said.

"Right..." Rory said.

"So...why don't you ring him?" She said.

"Maybe tomorrow." Rory shrugged. "I'm sort of tired. Do you mind if we eat and then I might head to bed?"

"Oh..yeah..of course!" Lorelai said. "I'll ring Joe's."

"Sounds good." Rory said sitting down on the couch.

Lorelai glanced at her. "So how come you're back this weekend? I thought you had a paper thing?"

"Paris was annoying me." She shrugged. "I'd handed in my article so I thought I'd head back. That's ok right?"

"What? Of course it is! It's always great to see you, you know that." Lorelai smiled.

"Thanks." Rory gave her a small smile. "So...pizza?"

"Oh..right, yeah! I'll get on it." She said picking up the phone.

* * *

Jess looked up the following morning as the door opened to the diner flat and he was surprised to see Lane standing there awkwardly. "Hey..." He said.

"Hi..." Lane said awkwardly.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"What? Oh yeah...uh...Luke asked me to bring up some food for you and Doula." She said, quickly going to put the food on the table.

"Oh thanks." Jess said. He watched Lane glance over at Doula and then back at him. "Something else?" He asked.

"No, no sorry...uh...I'll just get going." Lane said awkwardly, going to leave.

"Always a pleasure to see you, Lane." Jess smirked slightly.

Lane whipped round. "Hey, I'm Rory's best friend! I had to hate you ok! It was part of best friend duty!" She exclaimed.

"Sure." Jess nodded, still smirking.

"You think you're so great don't you?" She exclaimed annoyed. "You take pleasure in making everyone feel uncomfortable!"

"Not everyone. Some people though." He nodded.

"You're unbelievable." Lane grumbled, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Well I like to keep my reputation." Jess smirked.

Lane just shook her head. "I can see what Rory saw in you." She mumbled.

"Wow, is that actually a compliment?" He chuckled.

"No. She found you unpredicatable. That's not always a good thing." She retorted.

"True. But it got me Rory." Jess shrugged.

"And it lost you her as well." Lane retorted but she regretted it when she saw the slight sadness in his face. "Sorry." She said quietly. "That was uncalled for."

"True though." Jess brushed her off.

Lane sighed. "Look, Jess, I think it's cool what you're trying to do with Doula. She's lucky to have you as her brother."

"Thanks." Jess said slightly taken aback by her sincere statement.

"Hey, from what Rory used to tell me, you used to have pretty cool tastes in music as well. If I didn't have to hate you, I think we could actually have been pretty good friends." Lane said smirking slightly.

"Praise indeed." Jess smirked.

Lane rolled her eyes. "I guess I won't be able to help seeing you around as you're staying here and I work for Luke." She said slightly nervously.

"Looks that way." He nodded.

"I..uh..I guess I'll see you around then." She said, turning to leave.

"Hey Lane?" Jess said.

"Yeah?" She said turning back round.

"You were never one of the people I wanted to actively annoy by the way." He said. "I actually thought you were one of the few sane ones in this town."

"Wow, praise indeed." Lane repeated what he said earlier, smirking slightly.

Jess smirked. "I mean it though." He said sincerely. "And I get why you hated me. You're a good friend to Rory and I know she really appreciates your friendship."

"Thanks." Lane said quietly, surprised by the sincerity in his voice.

"I could do with all the friends I could get at the moment and I'm not with Rory anymore so you don't technically have to hate me." He said.

"I guess that's true..." Lane considered.

"Rory only said good things about you and it would be cool to have a friend like you as well." Jess said sincerely. "But if it's going to be too awkward for you, I'd understand. I don't want to get in the middle of you and Rory. But I could really do with all the support I can get right now."

Lane was quiet for a moment before glancing at Jess. "Well technically I don't have to hate you anymore, you're right..." She said, biting her lip slightly. "So I guess if we do spontaneously bump into each other every so often, that would be ok..."

"Spontaneously?" Jess said smirking slightly.

"Spontaneously." Lane nodded.

"Never knew you were the spontaneous type."

"Hey I'll have you know I once snuck out of my house to go and do a gig at CBGBs." She said defiantly.

"Commitment indeed." Jess chuckled. "And an impressive place. How was the gig?" He asked.

"We didn't actually get to do it." Lane sighed. "And then...well my mom found everything out and..uh..well that's why I'm now living in a place with Zach and Brian." She said.

"Ah.." Jess said. "I'm sorry."

Lane shrugged. "My mom was going to find out someday..." She said but sighed. "I'm dealing with it."

Jess nodded. "Well I better feed Doula."

"Right, of course. I'll leave you to it." She said.

"So...I'll see you around?" Jess said smirking slightly.

Lane smirked slightly. "Yeah, see you around Jess." She said before leaving.

* * *

Jess walked along the streets with Doula in a pram, which he and Luke had bought for her, ignoring the looks he was getting from the residents. He was walking along the street when suddenly Lorelai came out of Weston's and he nearly knocked her over. "Sorry..." He said gruffly before turning to go the opposite way.

"Jess wait!" Lorelai said rushing after him.

"What, so you can tell me how screwed up I am again?" Jess snapped, turning round. "Well, newsflash, I already know that!"

"Jess..." Lorelai sighed.

"What? What do you want?" He exclaimed.

"I want to help." She said.

"I don't need your help." He said stubbornly.

"Maybe you don't. But I want to help with Doula." She said. She sighed. "Look, Jess, we may not be each other's biggest fans but I was wrong to say you don't care about Doula. She's your sister. Of course you care about her and what happens to her." She said. "So for implying you didn't care, I'm sorry." Jess just nodded. Lorelai sighed again. "I care about Doula as well. She's Luke's family and I love Luke. He really cares about her so I do as well."

"I want Luke in Doula's life." Jess said gruffly.

"I know he wants to be in her life as well." She said. "She wants to be in both of your lives. He made that very clear to me."

"Yeah...he told me about your argument." Jess said glancing at the floor and then back up at her. "I didn't come to cause trouble. For anyone." He said. "I really didn't. If I never had to return here, I wouldn't, but Doula's my priority now."

"I don't think you would never have returned here even if everything didn't happen with your mom and Doula." Lorelai said.

"Look, Rory and I are over." He said. "She's moved on, you told me that..."

"I wasn't talking about Rory." Lorelai said. "I'm talking about Luke."

"What about Luke?"

"He means a lot to you. I don't think you could just stay away from him." Lorelai said.

Jess shrugged. "I'm not exactly welcome here though, am I?"

Lorelai sighed. "Look, we may never see eye to eye but you're Luke's family and you mean an awful lot to him. I intend to be with Luke for a very long time so we're going to have to find a way to be civil around each other. For Luke's sake."

"I'm willing to be civil." Jess nodded.

"Yeah? Ok good. That's good." Lorelai let out a breath.

"On one condition." He said.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy with you." She narrowed her eyes.

"You don't go on about Rory's amazing boyfriend and I won't tell Luke you just had lunch at Weston's." He smirked.

Lorelai had to laugh at that. "I guess I can agree to that." She said.

Jess smirked slightly. "I need to buy this one some nappies and bottles." He said.

"Oh right. I'll let you get on then." She said.

Jess nodded. "Not that I'll know what to buy." He said.

Lorelai glanced at him. "Want some help?" She asked after a moment.

"You don't have to." He said quickly.

"I want to." She smiled.

For the first time, Jess could see she was actually being sincere. He nodded. "Ok." He said. "Thanks."

"Plus you probably need some moral support going into Doose's." She joked.

"I can handle Taylor." He said.

"Oh I have no doubt!" She laughed. "Just don't draw any other chalk outlines outside his store." She smirked.

Jess smirked slightly. "No promises." He said.

 **So I hope you liked it! There will be some Rory/Jess interaction, I promise. I just didn't want it to happen straight away! :) Please let me know what you think by reviewing! And maybe suggest who you would like to see Jess with. Would you like this to be a literati or would you like him to be with someone else? I've got some ideas but am open to suggestions! :) Thanks again for all your support! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow I'm constantly overwhelmed by the amount of support I'm getting for this so thank you! :) Here's the next chapter! :)**

Chapter 4

Jess was sat in the gazebo reading a book, having a bit of quiet time, glancing over at Doula every so often to make sure she was ok but she was napping soundly. He was getting into his book when suddenly he heard some voices coming up behind him, laughing as they came. He immediately cringed as he recognised one very familiar voice.

"Jess..." Rory suddenly said.

He looked up to see her, arms linked with a blonde haired guy who he presumed was her so called amazing boyfriend. "Rory." He nodded.

"How are you doing?" She asked awkwardly, glancing subtly between the guy and him.

"I'm ok." Jess said, glancing at the guy who had a smug grin on his face.

"Oh..uh..Jess, this is Logan. Logan, this is Jess. He's an..uh..old friend." Rory said awkwardly.

Jess raised his eyebrows at her choice of words. "Old friend huh?" He said. "That's one way to put it."

Logan saw the awkward looks between them. "So is this your kid?" He asked. "Cute."

"None of your business." Jess said.

"Hey, I'm not judging! I think it's cool you're stepping up to responsibility. Not many guys do." Logan said condescendingly. "Hey, she's not yours, is she?" He joked looking at Rory.

"What?" Rory said shocked.

"Well I'm guessing by the awkward looks that you two are more than just old friends. He's sat here with a kid." Logan shrugged.

"Logan!" Rory exclaimed. "No! Ok yes, Jess and I used to date but that was two years ago now."

"And the kid...she's my sister." Jess said, glaring at him. "But nice to know you have so much faith in your girlfriend."

Logan glanced at Rory who was looking annoyed. "I'm sorry ok? It just took my by surprise. I trust you. You know I trust you." He said with a charming smile. "Come on, Ace. We haven't seen each other for ages. Let's make the most of it, yeah?" He said. "I've missed you."

Jess saw Rory soften and shook his head slightly at how this guy had Rory so obviously wrapped round his finger. "Well don't let me stop you." He said gruffly.

"Yeah, you said your mom wanted to meet me right? Why don't we go find her? Isn't that why you invited me here? Well apart from us getting to spend time together of course." He laughed.

"Uh..yeah. Ok come on. I think she'll be at the inn now so I can go show you that." Rory said.

"Sounds good." Logan smiled. "Hey, it was great to meet you." He smirked at Jess.

"Oh yeah, it's been a ball." Jess said sarcastically.

"Bye Jess." Rory said quietly.

"See ya." Jess said before watching them walk away. He let out a breath as he was alone again. He watched as Logan put his arm round Rory and pulled her into a kiss. He shook his head and went back to his book. If Rory chose to be with that jerk, it was her choice. He had other things to think about right now. He realised, though, that he couldn't really get back into his book after that sudden meeting so he got up and started heading back to the diner with Doula.

"Jess!" A voice called from behind him.

He tensed as he heard who it was.

"Jess wait! Hey, couldn't you hear me?" Lorelai said as she rushed up to him.

"Unfortunately yeah. But I was just trying not to." Jess mumbled.

"What?" Lorelai said taken aback.

"You heard me."

"Wow, so I guess that truce lasted less than 24 hours." She joked.

"Guess so." He said not in the mood.

"Jess, just stop! Why are you acting like a sulky teenager again?" She exclaimed.

"Oh I don't know. Why don't you go ask that jerk that Rory is going out with? They've gone to see you at the inn. Apparently you thought it was suddenly essential to meet him. That doesn't have to do with rubbing my face in it, huh?" Jess snapped.

"You said you and Rory were ancient history! What's wrong with me wanting to meet him?" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Nothing at all. Just keep him the hell away from me!" He grumbled before storming into the diner.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Jess wandered downstairs with a baby monitor. "She's sleeping." She told Luke. "Need some help?" He asked.

"If you don't mind?" Luke said. "Lane's running late."

"Sure." Jess said going to take some plates of food to customers. He was suddenly nearly knocked over by Lane rushing in. "Whoa, where's the fire?" He joked.

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, Luke! I'll work longer to make up for being late." She said, grabbing an apron.

"Don't worry about it. Everything ok?" Luke asked.

"Yeah it's fine. It won't happen again." Lane promised.

"Ok." Luke said.

Jess gave the plates of food to some customers before going back behind the counter where Lane was filling the coffee jugs. "So what happened?" He asked.

"Just a run in with my mom." Lane sighed. "It wasn't pretty."

"That sucks." Jess said.

"Yeah.." She sighed.

Jess glanced at her. "You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, I will be." Lane said.

"Well if anyone understands sucky relationships with their mom, it's me." He said. "I mean, I know it's not the same, me and you. But well...if you need to talk at all?" He shrugged awkwardly.

Lane gave him a small smile. "Thanks Jess." She said softly.

"And hey, bet this will cheer you up. I had to endure meeting Rory's new boyfriend earlier." He said.

"Logan's here?" Lane said surprised.

"You didn't know?" Jess asked.

"No. I mean, well, Rory's been quite secretive about him. I didn't really think we'd get to meet him for ages." Lane shrugged.

"Secretive? How come?" Jess asked confused.

"I don't know. She's just not said much about him." Lane shrugged. "But it's good he's here. He seems to make her happy."

"Apparently so." He said.

Lane glanced at him and smirked slightly. "So how awkward was it?"

"I knew it would cheer you up." Jess shook his head but smirked slightly.

"Well...it is quite funny." Lane smirked.

"Glad you think so. Oh geez..." Jess said as he saw Rory, Logan and Lorelai walking towards the diner.

"Oooh are you going to punch him?" Lane exclaimed.

"Shut up." Jess said.

"Can I watch?" She grinned.

"Just go back to work." Jess said but smirked slightly just as Rory, Logan and Lorelai all entered the diner.

"You're right, you have cheered me up! Thanks Jess!" She grinned going off to greet her friend.

Jess just shook his head but watched as Rory introduced Lane to Logan. He watched as Logan went to grab a table and Lorelai went off to annoy Luke.

"Hey, so I saw you chatting with Jess before we came in." Rory said casually.

"Oh yeah, he was just cheering me up." Lane said. "I had a run in with my mom earlier. I told Jess about it and he made me feel better, that's all."

"Oh. Ok." Rory said. "I didn't realise you two were that friendly..."

"Oh..well..we're not. Well we weren't. But he's staying here and it's sort of cool to have someone my age working here as well. Luke's great but it's nice to have someone who I can actually have a conversation with." Lane said. She glanced at her. "That's ok right? That I'm talking to Jess..." She said hesitantly. "I mean if it's weird for you..."

"Oh no, it's fine!" Rory said quickly.

"Rory..."

"Honestly, it's fine." She assured her.

"Ok." Lane said quietly.

"Coffee." Jess suddenly said appearing next to Lane and placing a mug infront of Rory.

"Oh...thanks." Rory said surprised.

"You are still a coffee addict right?" He checked.

Rory had to smile at that. "I think my mom would kill me if I wasn't." She joked.

Jess smirked. "That's probably true." He saw Logan glancing over at them. "You better go join your boyfriend. I think he's getting jealous."

"Why would he get jealous?" Rory frowned.

"No reason." Jess shrugged.

"Well..uh..thanks for the coffee." She said.

"Anytime." He said. "And tell Logan I don't plan on being Rocky Bilbao today so not to worry." He said smirking slightly, causing Lane to stifle a laugh.

Rory looked between them confused, surprised that they seemed to have an inside joke between them. "Uh..yeah..ok." She said before going to join Logan.

"You're terrible." Lane exclaimed.

"What? I have to find some way to entertain myself, don't I?" Jess smirked. "Only way I can deal with him being in here."

Lane glanced at him for a moment. "Are you still hung up on her?"

"On who?" He said.

"You know who." Lane said pointedly.

Jess glanced at him. "We're over." He said.

"That's not what I asked." Lane said.

He sighed. "It's complicated. She's moved on though." He said. "Maybe I should as well?" He shrugged.

"Sure..." Lane said watching him go and serve a customer at the counter.

Suddenly the diner door burst open. "There you are! I want my daughter back!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

Lane glanced across at Jess who had noticeably tensed up.

"No chance." Jess snapped.

"You can't keep her from me! You have no right!" Liz exclaimed angrily.

Jess saw Luke and Lorelai appear from the kitchen area before glaring at his mom. "I do have a right. I'm her brother and I'm not going to let you screw up her life."

"You're the screw up! Just because you wasted your life, you think you can ruin my life!" She exclaimed. "Well she's my daughter and I'm taking her back!"

"Over my dead body." Jess said.

"Liz...why don't we take this outside?" Luke suggested, glancing at all the customers and townspeople watching the spectacle.

"Why should I?" She snapped. She glanced around. "I have every right to let everyone in this town know what my brother and son are like! What sort of people are working in this establishment!"

"Liz, you have noone to blame but yourself." Luke said trying to remain calm.

"Yes I do! I definitely have someone to blame!" Liz exclaimed glaring at Jess. "You screwed up your life so you wanted to do the same to mine huh? Just because everyone thinks you're nothing but a waste of space, you decided to take over your sister's life? Well I won't let you screw her up! Because you will! I am disgusted to call you my son!" She shouted angrily.

"Ok that's enough!" Lorelai intervened, surprising everyone, most of all Jess. "You can't talk to him like that."

"I don't see how any of this is your business. You think you're so perfect that you can tell other people how to live their own lives. You may have my brother brainwashed but I know what your sort of people are like. Go back to your perfect life and stay out of mine." Liz snapped.

"Liz!" Luke frowned. "Apologise now."

"No! I came to get my daughter and I won't leave without her!" She said going towards the stairs but Jess blocked the way. "Get out of my way!"

"No. You think I'd let you anywhere near my sister?" Jess said angrily.

"I'm a good mother! I want my daughter!"

"You're a good mother?" Jess snorted. "Well would a good mother come in demanding your daughter when you're so obviously still blind drunk?"

"I've only had a few." Liz said defensively.

"A few, yeah right!" Jess snorted. "You want Doula, you have to get through me first." He said crossing his arms against his chest.

"You know, I wish I'd never had you!" Liz said spitefully. "I wish I had gone for an abortion just like Luke had wanted me to!" She said angrily, causing everyone in the diner to gasp.

"Liz, how could you even say something like that?" Luke exclaimed. He looked at his nephew. "Jess, that's not true. Not once did I ever want her to get rid of you..."

She smirked when she saw the hurt expression on Jess' face. "Now let me through."

"No." Jess said holding his ground, glancing at Luke who looked totally shocked and incandescent with anger.

"You little..." Liz slurred before taking everyone by surprise by pulling her hand back and then slapping him in the face.

"Right that's it!" Luke said finally stepping in and grabbing hold of his sister. "Get out." He said angrily dragging her towards the door and pushing her out. "Stay away from me and stay away from Jess and Doula. I mean it, Liz! You step foot in this town again and I'll fight for Doula." He threatened and he watched as she finally got the message and stormed off. He turned back round and saw all the customers and townspeople in shock. "Right the show's over! Everyone out!" He exclaimed. Everyone knew he wasn't messing around and gladly left. He turned to Jess. "Jess...what your mom said..." He said softly.

"I..uh..I...I need some air." Jess mumbled, pushing past him.

"Jess..." Rory said standing up.

He glanced over at her who was looking concerned and even Logan looked shocked. "I'm fine." He said gruffly before rushing out.

* * *

Jess was sat on the bridge, staring across the water when he heard footsteps. He looked up and was surprised to see Lorelai approaching him. "How did you know where I would be?" He mumbled.

"Rory." She admitted. "She said you would always come here when you needed some space."

"Yeah, that's what I wanted. Space." He said pointedly.

"I needed to make sure you were ok. Luke is worried sick. He wanted to come but he was worried you wouldn't want to see him." She sighed sitting down next to him.

"I know Liz was lying. I know Luke would never have wanted her to...well, you know." He said quietly.

"No. He wouldn't have." She said softly. "You mean the world to him, Jess. Really."

"Even though I'm a screw up and nothing but a waste of space?" He said bitterly.

"He doesn't think that. And...I don't either." She said.

Jess glanced at her. "Yeah right. Why else would you make Rory invite Logan here? You wanted to get one up on me." He said.

"Ok yes, maybe I was still holding a grudge against you when I suggested that to Rory but it was before we talked yesterday." Lorelai admitted. "I don't hate you, Jess."

"Funny way of showing it." He mumbled. He sighed. "I wouldn't blame you if you did. Liz was right. I'm just going to screw up Doula's life. She's better off without me."

"No, Jess. Liz wasn't right. Doula is so lucky to have you as her brother, fighting her corner. I'd sometimes wish that I hadn't been an only child. It would have been nice to have someone on my side." She said.

Jess glanced at her. "Thanks." He said gruffly.

"Look, I'll leave you to it but don't believe anything your mom said. You have people who care about you. Hey, I haven't exactly been your number one fan but I'm saying you're a good person. That must mean something right?" She joked.

Jess smirked slightly. He sighed. "Tell Luke...tell him I'm not mad. I just...need some space."

"I will." She said softly. "And for what it's worth, I think it's good you got Doula out of that house."

"Thanks." He said quietly. He watched her walk away and let out a breath. He knew she was right. He knew she shouldn't listen to what Liz had said but he couldn't help it. What did he have to show for himself? What had he made of himself? Absolutely nothing. He thought about Rory who was no doubt excelling at Yale and then he even thought of Lane who, although wasn't attending college, still had a clear goal in her life. She had the band and she knew who she was and who she wanted to be. He was about to get up when he heard footsteps again. He looked up and was surprised to see Lane there. "Hey..."

"Hey...mind if I join you?" Lane asked.

"No." He said, watching as she sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry about your what your mom said." Lane said quietly.

"I'm used to it." He shrugged.

"That's awful." Lane frowned.

"What is?" Jess asked.

"It's awful that you're just used to it. I mean I know I'm having problems with my mom at the moment but I've never had any doubt that she doesn't love me. I know she does." She said quietly. She glanced at him and saw the red hand print on his cheek. "Here, I brought this for you to put on your cheek." She said handing him a bag of ice.

"Thanks." Jess said quietly, putting it against his cheek, wincing slightly as he did.

"I feel really bad. Teasing you about Rory, and about Logan..." She said guiltily.

"It's fine." He assured her.

"I should have been more sensitive."

"Lane, you're one of the most thoughtful people I know. It's fine." Jess told her, glancing at her.

"Thanks." She said quietly. She glanced at him. "I think this world would be very boring without you in it, Jess." She said sincerely. "And I know a lot of people who would care if you weren't in it. So please, don't take anything your mom said to heart. Like you said, she was drunk. You're a good person." She said. "And hey, who would have thought I would ever say that?" She joked.

Jess smirked slightly. He glanced at her and smiled. "Thanks Lane." He said softly. "That means a lot."

"Ok..well I'll leave you to it. I just wanted to make sure you were ok." She smiled softly, starting to get up.

"Wait..." Jess said grabbing holding of her hands.

"What?" Lane said glancing at him.

Jess didn't even really know what he was doing but before he knew it, he was leaning in and slowly kissing her. He suddenly felt her pulling back.

"What the hell...Jess! What are you doing?" She exclaimed getting up.

"I...uh...I'm sorry." He said, not being able to believe what he had done either. "Crap, I'm so sorry!" He said rubbing his hands over his face.

"It's...uh...It's ok..." Lane said hesitantly. "Your..uh..your mind must be all over the place right now."

"Yeah..." Jess said quietly.

"I'll...uh..leave you to it." Lane said quietly before quickly rushing off.

Jess groaned and threw the bag of ice in the water. Why did he have to do that? His mom was right. He had to always ruin everything good in his life. He was a screw up. And now he had truly messed up. He didn't know why he had to keep doing it. He rubbed his hands through his hair before letting out a big breath, before slowly walking back towards the square.

 **So a bit of drama and then a little twist at the end there! I was really nervous about this chapter so I hope you liked it! :) Please keep letting me know what you think by reviewing. Your support really does mean so much to me so thank you! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow, thank you so much for all your support! I've got lots of ideas for this so hopefully you'll all continue enjoying reading it! :) Here's the next chapter!**

Chapter 5

Jess slowly, reluctantly walked back to the diner. He was somewhat relieved to see Rory and Logan had left. He glanced over at Lane who was wiping down the counter. He caught her eye but she quickly looked away. He then saw Luke starting to put the chairs up on the tables. "You're really closing?" He asked surprised.

"Thought we could talk. About Doula. About...well everything. If you want to..." Luke said.

Jess nodded slowly. "Ok." He said.

"Ok good. You help Lane in here and I'll go make sure everything's off in the kitchen." Luke said before disappearing.

Jess continued putting the chairs up while Lane continued wiping down the counter. He glanced over at her and he knew she was deliberately avoiding his gaze. He sighed. "Can we..uh..can we talk about what happened?" He asked quietly, so Luke wouldn't hear.

Lane finally looked up at him. "Jess..." She said awkwardly.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend. Please?" He pleaded.

Lane was surprised to hear the desperation in his voice. She sighed. "Meet me at Sophie's music store in a couple of hours." She relented.

Jess let out a breath and nodded. "I'll be there. Thanks." He said.

After Lane had left, he headed upstairs to the flat and soon after Luke joined him. He watched as Luke grabbed a soda from the fridge and then sat down on the couch next to him.

"Ok..well, first, I want you to know that I never once asked your mom to have an abortion." Luke started. "And nor did our dad. We were shocked when Liz told us she was pregnant but abortion was never an option."

Jess nodded slowly. "I believe you." He said quietly.

"And your mom never once thought about it either." Luke said.

"Are you making excuses for her?" Jess frowned.

"No! No, not at all!" Luke said quickly. "What she said to you was unforgivable. But as you said, she was blind drunk and she probably didn't even know what she was saying."

"Oh she knew." Jess said. "She wished she'd never had me. That bit was very clear."

"Jess..."

"Look, if you're just going to sit here and defend her, I'm going to go. I appreciate you throwing her out earlier and letting me know that what she said about you was a lie. But I don't particularly want to sit here and just listen to you trying to defend her." Jess said.

"Ok, I'm sorry. That's not what I'm doing. Well..I guess I don't know what I'm doing." Luke sighed rubbing his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry. We don't need to talk about her."

"Good." Jess said gruffly.

"I guess we should talk about Doula."

"Guess so." He nodded.

"Well, here's what I think. I think Doula should stay here with me. You can stay as well if that's what you like but I think Doula should stay here." Luke said.

"So you're going to raise Doula?" Jess raised his eyebrows. "Do you know anything about babies?"

"Well no, and I'm not exactly a big fan of jam hands but she's my niece and there's no way I'm letting Liz have her back unless she seriously cleans up her act. Plus I have Lorelai who does know a lot about babies." He said. He glanced at Jess who was quiet. "You don't like the idea..." He said.

"I don't hate it." Jess shrugged. "I just..I was sort of thinking that Doula could stay with me." He admitted.

"Like you're such an expert with babies?" Luke joked.

"Maybe not but I could learn. She's my sister." Jess shrugged. "Obviously I don't have a great place at the moment for her and me but I figured if I get a job and start saving, I could maybe save enough for a deposit on a flat around here and then Doula and I could stay there."

"You've really thought about this." Luke said surprised.

"Somewhat." He said.

"Wait, a flat around here? You'd stay in the area?" He asked surprised.

Jess shrugged. "As you said I'm not exactly an expert on babies but I figured if I was around here, I'd at least have some help."

Luke looked at him for a moment. "You're really serious about this? You really want Doula to live with you?"

"Do you think that's mad?" He asked glancing at his uncle.

"No..." Luke said. "I just didn't realise you'd feel so strongly about it. Do you really want a kid around? It's a huge responsibility."

"I know it is." Jess nodded. "But I feel I owe it to Doula. I want her to grow up and know that at least one member of her family cared about her."

"Well that's very...admirable." Luke said slowly. "And I'm proud of you."

"It's what anyone would do." Jess brushed him off. He glanced at him. "So...?"

"Ok, what about this? You and Doula stay here for the time being. I'm around Lorelai's most nights anyway so you can see how you and Doula get on by yourself. In the meantime you can work at the diner if that's what you want and if you're still serious about this plan, you can start saving. How about it?" Luke suggested.

Jess thought for a moment. "Ok, yeah."

"Yeah? Ok good. That's good." Luke nodded.

Jess glanced at him. "If I do find it harder than I thought..." He said hesitantly.

Luke smiled. "I'm here. I'm always here, Jess." He said softly.

He nodded. "Thanks." He said gruffly.

* * *

That evening, Jess hesitantly walked into Sophie's music store. He stopped in the doorway when he heard Lane playing the drums. He watched her for a moment and marvelled at how at ease she looked doing it. He walked slowly up to her. "Sounds great." He said.

"Oh...hey!" Lane said awkwardly. "Sorry, I was just practising." She said.

"Well you've improved a lot since I was last here and you were pretty good then anyway." Jess said.

"Thanks." She said self consciously, ducking her head slightly. She watched as he looked at some of the guitars and strummed some of the strings. "Do you play?" She asked surprised.

"Oh no!" He said quickly putting it down. "Not for years anyway. I had one back in New York. It helped with the boredom but I was never that good."

"Cool." Lane said.

"Yeah. It was fun." Jess nodded. There was an awkward silence for a moment. "So..." He said.

"So..." Lane said quietly.

"What happened...at the bridge..." Jess said awkwardly, glancing at the floor. "It shouldn't have..."

"Your head was all over the place. I know that." Lane said quietly.

"That's still no excuse. I guess it was kind of nice having you as a friend and I don't know, maybe seeing Rory with Logan messed with me a bit. I just...I hope I haven't messed up our friendship. Well, what there was of a friendship but I felt like we were developing a friendship..." He said awkwardly.

Lane smiled slightly. "Caught the rambling bug off Rory?"

Jess chuckled slightly. "I guess it is catching." He sighed and looked at her. "I really respect you Lane. Please can we just...forget what happened?"

Lane looked at him for a moment and smiled slightly. "It's forgotten." She assured him.

Jess let out a breath. "Thanks." He said gratefully. "Well I guess I better get back...Lorelai invited us all round to hers. Fun huh?"

"What, with Rory and Logan?" Lane said surprised.

"Well I'm guessing they will be there." Jess said.

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Yeah but Lorelai...well she's kind of been alright lately. I feel like I should go. And I think she might like to spend time with Doula as well." Jess said.

"Lorelai is great with kids." Lane nodded.

"Yeah.." Jess said.

"She's definitely like a second mom to me. I'm glad you two are trying to make peace." Lane smiled.

"Yeah, well I guess since she's seeing Luke, it's about time." Jess admitted.

"Well I think that's great. It will make things a whole lot easier." Lane smiled.

"Yeah. And since I'll be hanging around longer than I thought, I guess it makes sense to try and make amends." He said.

"You're hanging around?" Lane asked casually.

"I'll be staying in the diner flat with Doula while I work for Luke. I'm thinking of maybe getting another job as well. I want to save up for a deposit on a flat around here for me and Doula." He told her.

"You want Doula to live with you?" She asked surprised.

"That's the plan." He nodded.

"Wow. That's...big." She said.

"Yeah. But all the more reason for us not to get awkward since we will be seeing a lot more of each other..." He said hesitantly, glancing at her.

She smiled slightly. "I guess so..." She said.

"You don't mind me hanging around, do you? If it's too awkward, I don't have to work at the diner. I can find something else." Jess said.

"No!" Lane said quickly. "I mean...why should you have to? It makes sense for you to work in the diner." She said casually.

"Yeah but I don't want to make things weird for you..."

"You won't." She smiled at him. "Honestly, you won't." She assured him.

"Ok then." Jess said, smirking slightly.

"Ok then." Lane smiled slightly, ducking her head slightly. She glanced at him. "I should get back as well."

"Ok." He nodded. "So...I guess I really will see you around then."

"Yeah I guess you will." Lane smiled. "Bye Jess."

"See you tomorrow." He smiled, giving her a mock salute before going to leave.

"Hey Jess?" Lane said.

"Yeah?"

"If it's gets too much tonight...with Rory and Logan...you're welcome round ours. Zach and Brian won't mind. You know where we are." Lane smiled.

"Thanks." Jess smiled gratefully.

"Good luck." She said smirking slightly.

"I think I'm going to need it." He chuckled.

"And..uh..Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we shouldn't mention the kiss to Rory..." She said quietly.

Jess chuckled. "That goes without saying."

"Ok good. Thanks." Lane said relieved.

"See ya Lane." He smiled.

"Bye Jess." She smiled.

* * *

Jess glanced across at the couch in the living room of the Crap Shack where Luke and Lorelai were snuggled up, Doula in Lorelai's arms. He had to smile as he heard his sister laughing at the silly faces Lorelai was making at her. He glanced at the movie that was on the tv before slowly glancing across at the other armchair where Rory and Logan were sat snuggled together. He caught Rory's eye who gave him a small smile. He gave her a small smile before watching her focus her attention back to Logan, who smiled at her and gave her a kiss. "I'm just going to go warm up some more popcorn." He said getting up.

"Oh, thanks Jess! Do you want a hand?" Lorelai smiled.

"No, it's fine." Jess said before disappearing back into the kitchen. He leant against the side before slowly getting a bowl out and warming up some more popcorn in the microwave. He was surprised when suddenly Logan appeared.

"Need a hand?" Logan offered.

"I think I can handle popcorn." Jess said gruffly.

"Fair enough." Logan said.

Jess glanced at him when he realised he wasn't moving. "Something I can help you with?"

"I..uh..well I wanted to clear the air." Logan admitted.

"No need." He said gruffly.

"There is a need. I was rude to you earlier. I know it was stupid but I felt threatened when I realised you and Rory...well, had history." He said awkwardly. "But I shouldn't have taken that out on you. Luke's your uncle right?" He said.

"Yup."

"Well from what I've heard from Rory, him and Lorelai have a good thing going. And I have a good thing going with Rory, well at least I think I do. What I mean is that it probably means it will bring us around each other occasionally. I don't want it to be awkward." He said.

"Sure whatever." Jess said.

"I really like Rory. I want us to work." Logan said.

"So I see." Jess said gruffly.

Logan sighed but held out a hand. "So we're ok?" He said.

Jess glanced at him and then at his hand. He tensed but quickly shook Logan's hand. "Sure." He said.

"Good. Well...do you want me to take that back in?" Logan offered.

"Yeah ok." Jess said. He watched Logan leave the kitchen before letting out a breath. He felt his cell vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and opened the new message. **_Hey, hope it's going ok! The offer's still there if you need to escape at all. L :)_** He sighed. He heard laughter coming through from the living room. He glanced at the hallway going through to the living room. He took a step towards it before hearing laughter again and suddenly he changed directions and headed out the back door.

 **Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think! :) I really appreciate all your support. It means so much to me so thank you. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you so much for all your continued support! I honestly can't believe how much support this story is getting. It really does mean so much to me so thank you! :) Here's the next chapter! :) Sorry it's a bit shorter but I wanted to get something up! Work has been crazy busy so haven't had that much time to write. Hope you still like it though! :)**

Chapter 6

Jess watched from the couch at Zach and Brian sat on two bean bags, playing a video game on the tv. He took a drink from Lane who came and sat next to him. "Thanks." He said.

"So it got too awkward huh?" Lane said.

"Something like that." Jess said. "Being a fifth wheel isn't exactly fun."

Lane laughed. "Lorelai and Luke were being all coupley huh?" She asked.

"Nah they weren't that bad. Lorelai was all over Doula anyway. But yeah, it was like I shouldn't really have been there." He said.

"I'm sorry." Lane sympathised.

Jess shrugged. "Guess I'm just going to have to get used to it." He said.

"Well you're always welcome here if it gets too much." She smiled.

"Cheers." He nodded.

"I apologise for these two though. Social etiquette isn't exactly their strong suit." Lane joked.

Jess smirked. "It's not exactly mine either."

"Hey Jess, you can join us if you want?" Brian offered. "We've got a multiplayer mode."

"Nah it's ok, don't worry." Jess said.

"No you should dude! I'm getting tired of just beating Brian's ass everytime." Zach said.

"I'm not that bad." Brian protested.

"Here, we've got an extra controller." Zach said throwing one over to him.

"Ok, if you're sure." Jess said sitting up straighter and joined in with the game.

"Whoa, you're good!" Zach exclaimed. "How did you get so good at this?"

"Had a lot of time to kill when I was living in New York." Jess shrugged.

"You can show us how to get through the levels on the single player mode!" Brian said. "Have you done those?"

"Got to the end." Jess nodded.

"Ok dude, you are never leaving. You totally have to come everyday and show us how to get to the end! We've been trying for months!" Zach said.

"Zach, don't force Jess to! I'm sure he has things he'd rather do." Lane intervened.

"I don't mind coming every so often to help if you like." Jess shrugged.

"Yes!" Zach grinned. "See Lane?"

Lane rolled her eyes. "You guys hungry?" She asked.

"Yup!" All three of them answered in unison.

"Guess I'm in charge of food then." Lane smirked as she watched all three guys focus on the tv.

Jess smirked slightly but kept his eyes on the game. He glanced over at Zach and Brian briefly and thought that, although they not be exactly the kind of people he would choose to hang out with, it actually felt good to have made some friends. He had always found making friends hard or he would make it hard for people to try and make friends with him but as he glanced over at Lane in the kitchen he thought that maybe hanging around Stars Hollow wouldn't be that bad after all.

* * *

Luke woke up suddenly as he heard a bang in the kitchen. He groaned and glanced at the clock which read 3:09 am. He sat up and looked across at the kitchen and it was then he heard Doula crying. "What are you doing?" He grumbled.

"Trying to make her stop crying." Jess said gruffly. "But I dropped the milk."

"You're making her milk?"

"Milk normally stops a baby crying so yes." He retorted.

"Hey, I was just asking!" Luke said getting up. "You need some help?"

"Nope." Jess said.

"Well it looks like you do." He commented.

"Well I don't alright so just go back to sleep." Jess said getting frustrated as he started making another bottle.

"You're obviously struggling, just let me do it! What time did you get in anyway? I had to put Doula down after your disappearing act." Luke said.

"I said I'm fine!" Jess snapped, refusing to hand the bottle to Luke. "And I wasn't late. You just go to bed abnormally early."

"Yeah well Doula needed to sleep. Babies go to sleep early." Luke said.

"I know that." Jess said. "Here, happy now?" He asked Doula as he handed her the milk and breathed a sigh of relief when she stopped crying and happily drank it.

"Look, Jess, if you're having second doubts..." Luke said.

"I'm not!" Jess frowned. "What, just because I spilt some milk, you think I'd just give up?"

"Well no but...you seem stressed..."

"Because you're stood here watching my every move judging me!" Jess exclaimed.

"Ok fine. I'll go back to bed." Luke sighed heading back to bed.

Jess sighed. "I was at Lane's." He said.

"Lane's?" Luke said surprised, sitting down on his bed.

"She knew we were going to Lorelai's and she knew Rory and Logan would be there so she said I could go round to hers if it got too much." Jess told him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have. I was going to come back in time to put Doula to sleep but then Zach and Brian wanted me to play another game and then we all got talking and I lost track of time. I'm sorry. It won't be a regular thing."

"No, it's fine." Luke said. "But...aren't things awkward between you and Lane because of Rory?" He asked cautiously.

"At first it was. But as everyone has pointed out to me, Rory's moved on and she's happy so why should things be awkward between me and Lane now?" Jess shrugged.

"Fair enough." Luke said watching him for a moment. "So you and Rory..."

Jess sighed. "Look, there are always going to be feelings there ok? But she's moved on and she seems happy. Maybe I should try and move on as well."

"And you're ok with that?" Luke said.

"I'm going to have to be, aren't I?" Jess shrugged, suddenly yawning. "Sorry I woke you up. I'll help open tomorrow."

"You don't need to." Luke said.

"I want to." Jess said. "Night." He said retiring back to bed.

"Night."

* * *

The following day, Jess was taking a break and had taken Doula out with him to the gazebo to do some reading. He was getting into his book so he didn't hear anyone coming until they sat down next to him. "Oh..hey..." He said, surprised to see Rory.

"Hi." Rory gave him a small smile.

"Thought you were heading back to Yale today?" He said.

"I am, in a bit. Wanted to get a Luke's fix first though." She said holding up her take out bag.

"Ah." Jess said understanding. "Logan not with you?" He asked.

"He left early this morning. He had something planned with his friends." She said.

"Oh." He said, not really that interested.

"So...I hear you want Doula to live with you..." Rory said after a moment, glancing into the pram and smiling at her.

"That's the plan." He nodded.

"Big change." She commented.

"It's the right thing to do." Jess said gruffly. He glanced at her. "Why, do you think I can't hack it?" He asked defensively. "Or do you think I'll run away again?"

"Jess..." She said quietly.

He sighed. "Sorry, that was unfair. Of course you think I will run away. That's all I ever did to you."

"We had some good times." Rory said quietly.

He glanced at her. "Yeah?" He said.

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah." She said softly.

"I screwed it up proper didn't I?" Jess said.

Rory glanced at him. "You were going through a lot..."

He shrugged. "Didn't mean I had to treat you like dirt."

"I wasn't exactly perfect..." She said quietly.

"Well...it's in the past now anyway..." Jess said glancing at her. "Right?"

"Yeah...right..." Rory said hesitantly.

"You and Logan seem happy..." He said hesitantly. "Well that's what he told me."

"What? When did Logan speak to you?" Rory frowned.

"Yesterday when I went to warm up more popcorn. You must have seen him get up after me." Jess said.

"He told me he was going to the bathroom." She said.

"Oh. Well maybe he did as well. He said he didn't want things to be awkward seeing as he was hoping to be hanging around a lot more because of you and since I was likely to be around, it might put us around each other." Jess shrugged.

"He said that?" Rory asked surprised.

"Yup." He nodded. He glanced at her. "Why? Shouldn't he have?"

"No, that's not what I'm meant. I just...he really said he was happy with me?" She asked him.

"He seemed pretty serious." Jess said. "Why?"

"Oh nothing. Just...it's nothing." She said, smiling a little bit. "So...you and him are ok?"

"Well I doubt we will be best pals but we shook hands." Jess shrugged.

Rory glanced at him. "Thank you." She said softly.

Jess looked at her and hesitated before asking, "You are happy right? With him?"

"Yeah, I am." She said quietly.

Jess let out a breath but nodded. "I need to apologise for what happened at Yale and before then when I was back in Stars Hollow for a day and then before then when..."

"You don't need to." Rory said quickly.

"Yes, I do." Jess said, looking at her. "I need to do this. Please." He said, taking a deep breath. "You've moved on and I am happy that you're happy. You deserve that. But I need to apologise for how I treated you. I need this closure. Please?"

"Ok." She said quietly.

"I shouldn't have put that ultimatum on you at Yale. It was wrong of me and I'm sorry. And then before then, pouncing on you and telling you...telling you I loved you and then just running away again. I don't know why I did that but I should have stuck around and I'm sorry. And then...when I left...when I left without telling you or saying goodbye..." He said quietly, glancing down at the ground. "That was my least proud moment of my life and you didn't deserve that. My life was messed up and so was my head at that time but I should have talked to you instead of running away. I'm really sorry." He said glancing up at her.

"That's ok." She gave him a small smile.

Jess let out a breath. "Hey...at least now things don't have to be awkward huh? We can finally move on."

"Yeah..uh..I guess yeah..." Rory said quietly, glancing at him. "You want to move on?" She asked.

"Well haven't you?" He said confused.

"Well..yeah.." She said.

"Then I think I should too." He said slowly. "Shouldn't I?"

"Sure...if that's what you want..." Rory said hesitantly.

"Hey Jess!" Lane suddenly called from below. "If I'm only allowed an hour break, so are you! You better not make me deal with Kirk by myself!" She joked.

Jess chuckled. "Coming!" He said getting up. He gave Rory a small smile. "Safe journey back to Yale, yeah? And...be happy." He said softly.

"Thanks." She smiled softly. "Good luck with Doula." She said. "Maybe..uh..maybe I'll see you around next time I'm back here?"

"Probably." He nodded. "I better go before Luke or Lane kick my ass." He smirked.

"Yeah, you probably should." Rory laughed slightly.

"Bye Rory." He smiled softly.

"Bye Dodger." Rory smiled. She watched as Jess took Doula and walked back towards the diner with Lane. She watched as she saw him joking with her and them laughing together. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She watched as they disappeared into the diner together and then she slowly turned round and headed towards her car, gearing her up for her return back to Yale.

 **I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming! I love reading all your comments so much so thank you for continuing to leave your reviews! Thanks again for all your support! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for your continued support! Here's the next chapter! :)**

Chapter 7

Jess was walking through the aisles at Doose's to buy some more diapers for Doula. He found the right brand and picked them up before going towards the check out when suddenly someone came bursting in.

"You! You dirty, filthy devil boy! You will pay for this! You will burn in hellfire for this! You will swim in the sludge with Satan's hell-dogs, and feed them your innards for eternity!" Mrs Kim exclaimed angrily.

"Mrs Kim, nice to see you again too." Jess said.

"She's an innocent girl! And you are a wild pig of filth! I know! I know all you do! You think you can hide from me? That you can carry on your dirty, filthy schemes without me finding out?" She exclaimed.

"What are you going on about?" Jess shook his head, noticing everyone in Doose's watching them now.

"I heard about it! I heard about how you put your hands on Lane! How you stood there and kissed her! My Lane! And before God, I swear that you will be punished. Because that is what happens to all swine that walk up tall!" She said angrily before storming out.

Jess watched her go, shocked. He had no idea how she knew, how anyone knew. No one was around. He sighed and went to pay for the diapers. He knew everyone was still staring at him and he noticed Miss Patty run off during the confrontation so he knew the whole town would know immediately. "Great." He muttered. He was about to leave when he saw Dean hovering down an aisle, watching him, smirking slightly. He looked at him for a moment before leaving quickly and rushing to the diner. He went in and went up to Lane behind the counter. "We need to talk." He said quietly.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Not here. Upstairs." He said glancing around and seeing everyone watching them.

Lane saw them too. "Is this to do with why everyone's been giving me weird looks?" She asked.

"Boy, Patty works quick." Jess commented. "Please, just come upstairs." He said disappearing up the stairs.

Lane followed him into the apartment. "What's going on?" She asked confused.

"They know." He said. "Everyone knows."

"Knows what?"

"About us. About that...kiss. Your mom found out and cursed me at Doose's infront of everyone." Jess told her.

"What?" Lane said panicked, her eyes widening. "How did she...How did she find out?"

"I have no idea! I know I haven't told anyone and noone was around when it...happened." Jess exclaimed. "You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"What? No, of course not!" She exclaimed. "We agreed never to talk about it again!"

Jess sighed. "I know. I just...I don't know how people found out."

"Someone must have seen us." Lane said quietly. "That must have been the only way."

"But noone was around!"

"They must have been. Someone must have seen us." Lane said. "What other explanation is there?"

Jess sighed. "Well, everyone knows now."

"Do you think they will tell Rory?" Lane asked worried.

"Well if the whole town knows, it means..." Jess said but was interrupted by a voice coming from downstairs.

"Where's Jess? Jess!" Lorelai's voice shouted.

"Lorelai knows." Lane panicked.

"Hide." He said quickly, pulling her towards the closet.

"What? Jess!" She exclaimed.

"Look, if she finds us up here, you know she'll come to conclusions. I need to talk to her. Try and explain. But if she finds us together, she won't want to listen. Please Lane?" He said desperately.

Lane sighed but knew he was right. "You so owe me!" She said before getting into the closet.

Jess closed the door of it just before Lorelai burst in. "There you are!" She said.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Jess said.

"Don't be smart! You're not in the position to be smart!" She said angrily. "How could you?"

"I'm guessing you heard." He said calmly as he gave Doula a bottle.

"You bet your ass I heard! How could you do that to Rory?" She exclaimed.

"To Rory?" Jess frowned. "I'm sorry but I'm lost. I seem to believe that Rory and I aren't together anymore. I haven't done anything to her. Now if we were still together, I can understand you being upset." He said.

"I can't believe I actually thought you'd changed. I was really starting to change my opinion of you but you're still just the same smart ass you were before. Well at least everyone knows what you are now! God knows what Rory will think of you after this!" She snapped.

"You can't tell Rory!" Jess said quickly.

"Oh now I have your attention, don't I?" She said.

Jess took a deep breath. "Look, Rory doesn't need to know about this. Do you really want to upset her by telling her?"

"She deserves to know." Lorelai said stubbornly.

"Maybe so. If the kiss actually meant anything. But it didn't. It was a mistake and it's never going to happen again." Jess told her. "Both Lane and I were as freaked out as each other that it happened."

"Then why did it?" She said.

"Because my mind was messed up." Jess said honestly. "It was after Liz came to the diner and after you came and checked on me at the bridge. Lane came after you. She came to make sure I was ok. She was being really nice and I don't know...it just happened." He said, sighing. "Lorelai, we're friends ok? And at the moment, I need all the friends I can get. I get that it's weird that I'm friends with my ex's best friend but Lane's cool. What happened was a mistake and it meant nothing. Lane loves Rory and I know she respects their friendship so much. She would never want to hurt her or have you think badly of her. So please, if you don't do it for me, do it for her. Please, Lorelai. Rory doesn't have to know." He said.

Lorelai was quiet for a moment. "It's never going to happen again?" She said quietly.

"Never." Jess said. "I know you and Rory don't have secrets and I know this is a lot to ask but something we all have in common is that we don't want to upset her. So please, I'm begging you. Don't tell her."

Lorelai looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Ok." She said after a moment.

"Ok?" He said relieved.

"Ok." She repeated.

Jess let out a big breath. "Thank you." He said gratefully. "Seriously, thank you."

"I'm doing this for Rory though, not you. You're right. There's no point upsetting her over something that didn't mean anything." She said, looking at him. "It didn't mean anything, right?"

"Of course not! I told you that." He said.

"Hmm..." Lorelai said. "Well if I find out you've been lying to me, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

"Totally understandable." He nodded.

"Yeah...well I need to get back to work." She said.

"Yeah me too." Jess said.

"Don't make me regret it, Jess." She warned before leaving.

Jess let out a breath after she left and looked towards the closet where Lane was coming out of. "That was close..." He said.

"Tell me about it." Lane said. "You believe she won't tell Rory?" She asked.

Jess nodded. "I believe her." He said.

Lane let out a breath. "That's a weight of the mind at least." She said. "But what about everyone else? They're going to think badly of us both."

"Nah, they'll only think badly of me. They love you like they love Rory. I'm still the devil incarnate with them so I'm pretty sure they will think I forced myself on you or something." He shrugged.

"That's just wrong though." Lane frowned. "Don't you care about them thinking that?"

"I'm used to it." He shrugged. "So long as Rory doesn't find out, I can take all the looks."

Lane glanced at him. "I was thinking...maybe we should have some space between us?"

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"It's just...complicated. Us being friends. It's causing problems already..." She said reluctantly. "Maybe we should just go to being work colleges instead..."

"That's what you really want?" Jess asked slowly, looking at her.

Lane tried to avoid his gaze and nodded hesitantly. "I think it might be for the best..."

Jess looked at her and then went over to Doula. "Fine." He said gruffly.

"Jess..."

"Luke will wonder where you are. You should get back down there. Tell him I'm just putting Doula down for a nap and then I'll come down." He said.

"Jess please..."

"I get it, it's fine." Jess said gruffly.

Lane sighed. "I'm sorry." She said sincerely.

"Can't be helped." He shrugged. Lane opened her mouth to say something before thinking against it. She glanced over at him for a last time before heading back downstairs to the diner. Jess looked over to where she had left and let out a breath. "Great. Just great." He muttered. "Well done Jess."

* * *

Jess spent his whole shift avoiding Lane's glances and Luke's attempts to talk. Lane left late afternoon while he stayed to finish his shift and helped Luke close.

"Are you ok?" Luke asked.

"I'm fine." He said gruffly.

"Really? Because you've been walking round like a miserable sod all shift." He commented.

"Gee thanks Uncle Luke." Jess said sarcastically.

Luke sighed. "Is this to do with Lane?" He asked.

Jess glanced at him. "No." He said gruffly.

"That sounds convincing." Luke said.

"Why do you care? Why aren't you kicking me out for kissing Lane? I thought you loved Rory. I thought you'd give me a hard time for doing something that would upset her!" Jess snapped.

"Maybe back then I would have." Luke said. "When you were actually together. But you're not now so you're free to do what you like. If...if you like Lane..." He said cautiously.

"I don't like Lane!" He exclaimed.

"Ok! I was only saying...that if you do like her, you should tell her." Luke shrugged.

Jess frowned at him. "Yeah like that would happen. Lane and I are friends. Well we were friends before all this got out. We kissed, yes. Well I kissed her. But my head was messed up and it shouldn't have happened. And now it's lost me my only friend round here." He said. "So I'm sorry I haven't exactly been giving out best customer service today but it's been a crappy day." He snapped.

Luke sighed. "Go talk to her." He said.

"To who?"

"To Lane."

"She doesn't want to talk to me." Jess mumbled.

"Well then make her listen. You're saying the kiss didn't mean anything. So why should it mess everything up for you? Sure the town may talk and stare for a week but they'll soon get bored. If you don't want to lose her as a friend, go tell her." Luke encouraged.

"There's no point." Jess grumbled. "I'm going to go check on Doula." He said before storming upstairs. He went over and checked on his sister who was asleep before he spotted something on the table. He went over to it and saw a cd that he had wanted to buy for some time. There was a note next to it which read, _Hey! I know you have wanted this for some time. I finally got my stuff from my mom's and found this in my collection. Enjoy! :) L x_ She must have left it there for him before everything had happened. He read the note again before checking that Doula was still asleep. Knowing Luke would be up in the next minute and that he had the baby monitor down there anyway, he grabbed the cd, grabbed his jacket and snuck back downstairs and out the back entrance.

He found himself outside Lane's a while later. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. He looked up as Lane opened the door. "Before you say anything, hear me out." He said quickly. "This is stupid! I messed up ok, when I kissed you, I messed up and I'm sorry. But I don't want to lose you as a friend. We like the same interests, we make work enjoyable for each other, we enjoy hanging out together. Why should we let this town break that up for us? I know I don't want it to and I believe you don't either." He said.

"Jess..." Lane said quietly.

"I need all the friends I can get right now and I like hanging out with you." He admitted. "There, I said it. I enjoy being your friend." He said, glancing at her. "Please, can we just put everything behind us and just carry on like we have been?"

"Jess..."

"I brought this back to you. If you really want us to stop being friends, I thought you might want your cd back." He said gruffly. "If you really think this will be for the best, I'll respect your decision and I won't bother you anymore. But I just needed to have my say."

Lane looked at him for a moment before giving him a small smile. "Keep it." She said softly.

"Really?" He said glancing up at him.

"You want to come in?" She asked.

Jess let out a breath and gave her a relieved smile. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

"So who do you think saw us then?" Lane asked after they had demolished a pizza they had ordered.

"No idea." Jess shrugged.

"Well whoever it was, they wanted to mess things up for us. Telling my mom...they must have known she would have made a scene." Lane commented.

"Yeah...I guess so." Jess said not having thought about that before. "At least it showed you something." He said.

"What?"

"Shows your mom cares about you." Jess said. "She really cursed me. And she called you her Lane."

Lane smiled slightly. "I guess so." She said softly. "I'm still sorry she attacked you like that though."

"Ah it's fine." He smirked. He thought for a moment. "We know it wasn't Lorelai because she genuinely didn't know. We would have known about it if she had." He said.

"True. Plus she would have come straight to us. I don't believe she would have told my mom." Lane pointed out.

"True." Jess said. He suddenly thought about something. "Oh crap..." He said.

"What?"

"I have a feeling I know who it was. And I have a feeling he wouldn't hesitate in telling Rory..." Jess said suddenly getting back.

"What? Who?" Lane said surprised.

"Her ex boyfriend." Jess said before rushing out.

"Jess, wait!" Lane exclaimed, getting u and rushing after him.

Jess ran to Doose's where he saw Dean locking up. "It was you, wasn't it?" He said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dean smirked.

"Please tell me you haven't told her. Please tell me you haven't told Rory!" Jess said angrily.

"I'm sorry, was it meant to be a secret?" Dean smirked before turning and walking away.

 **So some of you thought that the kiss would get out! And now it has! Hope you liked it! Please keep the reviews coming! I really do love reading what you think so thank you again for all your support! :) It really does mean so much to me! I know I keep repeating myself but it's the truth. I'm constantly overwhelmed by how many people read my stories and like them. So thank you! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all your support! :) Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's a bit shorter but I wanted to get something up as I'm busy tomorrow and I don't think I will be able to write. :)**

Chapter 8

Jess narrowed his eyes and starting rushing after him when he felt a hand on his arm.

"He's not worth it." Lane said quietly.

"He told her! He told Rory!" Jess exclaimed.

"Yes but hitting him isn't going to help your case with Doula is it?" Lane pointed out.

Jess hesitated for a moment and let out a groan. "I can't believe he would do this! Why would he do this?" He exclaimed.

"Well..." Lane hesitated.

"What?"

"Jess, you know you've sort of been a jerk to him in the past. It can't be a surprise that he would want payback." Lane said cautiously.

"But this doesn't just affect me! It affects you and Rory as well." Jess frowned. "I'd get if he wanted to screw me over but this doesn't just involve me!"

"Probably wasn't in Dean's thoughts when he did it." Lane said.

Jess glanced at her. "How are you so calm about this?"

Lane sighed. "It's done now. She knows. There's nothing really we can do now. We just...well I guess we just have to wait for the fallout."

Jess sighed. "I guess so." He said. He glanced at her. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault..."

"It's fine. It's happened now." Lane shrugged. "I should get back though."

"Yeah me too." Jess said, glancing at her. "See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow." Lane gave him a small smile.

Jess watched her walk off before slowly walking back to the diner. He went up to the apartment when Luke was bouncing Doula on his lap.

"I've been ringing you! Why weren't you answering your phone?" Luke exclaimed.

"Sorry, something happened." Jess said pulling his cell out. "I didn't hear it, sorry. What's wrong? Is Doula ok?"

"Yeah she's good, great in fact!" Luke grinned.

"Ok, you're being weird. What's going on?" Jess said.

"She's started walking! She was taking some steps!" Luke beamed.

"Seriously?" Jess couldn't help a smile appear on his face.

"Yeah look!" Luke grinned putting her down. "Go on, Doula. Walk to your brother!" He encouraged.

Jess knelt down and held out his arms. "Come on sis, you can do it! Come on!" He encouraged.

Doula started taking a couple of tentative steps and then she giggled a bit before taking a few more steps and falling into Jess' arms.

"Great job!" Jess grinned. "That's my girl!" He smiled proudly, but then ducked his head slightly, embarrassed, when he saw Luke smiling at them.

"You here for the night now?" Luke asked.

"Yeah." Jess nodded.

"Ok if I head to Lorelai's?" He asked.

"Sure. We'll be fine." He nodded.

"Ok, I'll leave you to it then." Luke smiled. He gave Doula a quick kiss and Jess a pat on the shoulder. "I'll be here to open."

"Ok." Jess said. "See you tomorrow."

"Night." Luke smiled.

"Night." Jess said. He watched his uncle leave before picking up Doula and sitting down on the couch with her. "It's just you and me now, kid." He said softly. "I think it's time for me to focus on you, don't you think?" He smiled slightly as Doula gave him a toothy grin. "Well from now on, you are my priority ok? Nothing else matters, not Rory, not misguided kisses, but you. You matter to me ok? I want you to know that. I never want you to think that noone cares about you because I do." He said softly. He smiled down at her and kissed her on the top of her head. "Come on, let's get you to bed." He said.

Once he had put Doula down for the night, he got out his laptop and started typing stuff into the search engine.

* * *

Jess glanced up the following morning when Lane came in for her shift. He watched as she grabbed her apron and joined him behind the counter. "Hey.." He said.

"Hi.." Lane said.

"Have you heard anything from her?" Jess asked.

"Nothing." Lane said.

"Isn't that weird?" Jess said confused. "You'd think she'd try and contact you at least."

"Maybe she doesn't care." She shrugged.

"You think?" Jess said surprised.

"Well like you said, she's moved on. She's happy with Logan. So maybe...maybe she just doesn't care." Lane said.

"Maybe..." Jess said.

Lane glanced at him. "It's good though right? If she doesn't care. I mean, we don't want her to be upset about this right?"

"No, of course not!" He said.

"Well then it's good..."

"Yeah..it's good." He smiled, letting out a breath. "It is good." He said.

Lane nodded and smiled. "So..do you want to deal with Kirk or do you want me to?" She smirked as Kirk entered the diner.

Jess chuckled. "Can you? I need to pop out and do something." He said.

"You're not going after Dean, are you?" Lane narrowed her eyes.

"What? No! No, I'm not. I just need to do something." He said. "Luke, is it ok if I pop out now? Doula's still napping so she should still be asleep when I get back so she shouldn't be any bother." He said.

"Sure." Luke nodded. "Don't worry about Doula. She's never any bother." He watched his nephew leave and glanced at Lane. "So...you and Jess? You made up right?"

"Yeah we made up." Lane nodded.

"Good. That's good. Jess was in a miserable mood when he thought you two weren't friends anymore." Luke commented.

"Really?" Lane said surprised, glancing at him.

"Oh yeah." Luke nodded. He glanced at him. "So you two are...?"

"Friends." Lane said quickly.

"Friend. Right." Luke nodded.

Lane glanced at him and sighed. "I know you heard about the kiss but honestly..."

"It's none of my business." He said.

"But..."

"Look, Rory means a lot to me, of course she does. I care about her a lot but you're my employee and I care about you as well. If you and Jess...well, you know...I would support you." He said awkwardly.

"We're friends." She repeated.

"Ok." He said. "Well I should get back to work then." He said heading to the kitchen.

"Luke?" Lane said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." Lane smiled softly.

Luke nodded before disappearing into the kitchen.

* * *

Jess walked into the Dragonfly Inn and saw Lorelai at the reception desk. He took a deep breath before walking up to her. "Hey.." He said hesitantly.

"Oh. Hi." Lorelai said surprised.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked.

"No. It's not that busy. Is everything ok?" She asked intrigued.

"I wanted to talk to you about something..." He said.

"Look, Jess, about the kiss..." She sighed.

"It's not about that. Or the fact that Dean told Rory." Jess said.

"Wait, what? Dean told Rory?" Lorelai said surprised.

"You haven't heard from her?" He said equally surprised.

"No, nothing." Lorelai frowned.

"Oh..well...yeah, Dean told her apparently. Little payback for me treating him like a jerk in the past I think." He said.

"Oh." Lorelai said.

"This isn't about that though." Jess said.

"Ok? What's up?"

"I want to work here." He admitted.

"What?" Lorelai said surprised. The last place she would imagine Jess working would be at her inn. "Seriously?"

"So is that a no?" Jess sighed.

"No..I just...This doesn't seem like the type of place you'd want to work." She said carefully.

"It isn't." He admitted. "But you worked here when Rory was about Doula's age right and you got to see her more? Like she got to hang out here right?"

"Not all the time but yeah, Mia was very accommodating." Lorelai nodded slowly.

"I want to focus on Doula. I've realised since coming here I've let stuff...well she's not been my priority and I want to change that. I was researching how to legally have Doula live with me. I want to do things the proper way." He said.

Lorelai's face softened slightly. "Well...she's lucky to have you fighting her corner."

"Thanks." Jess ducked his head slightly.

"You any good at cooking?" Lorelai asked.

"Luke taught me some stuff." Jess nodded.

"Well one of Sookie's kitchen staff has recently left at short notice and she's looking for someone else. Is that something you might be interested in?" She said.

"I could do that." Jess nodded. "But Doula wouldn't be allowed in the kitchen, would she?"

"No...but she could stay out here with me while you're working and when you have your breaks, you can come out here. I would make sure she was ok." Lorelai said.

"You'd do that?" Jess glanced at him.

"For Doula, yeah." She nodded. "But...I think it's admirable that you're putting her first now." She said.

"I'll take the job." Jess said. "Is it ok if I do it part time to start off with to see how it goes?" He asked. "I don't want to let Luke down by just leaving the job at the diner."

"More like, you don't want to leave Lane..." Lorelai said.

"What? No!" Jess said quickly but he saw Lorelai smirking slightly and he relaxed a bit. "Couldn't leave her dealing with Kirk by herself, could I?"

"No. No you couldn't." Lorelai smiled slightly.

"Well..thanks for hearing me out. I won't let you down." He said.

"I'm sure you won't." She said. She watched him leave, letting out a breath as he did. She didn't know what to think about Jess. Everyday he would surprise her in a different way.

* * *

Jess carried Doula down as Luke and Lane was closing up. "Look who came to say hello. And to beg his uncle for some food." He smirked.

"You saw me close the kitchen and now you want me to make food for her?" Luke raised her eyebrows.

"Hey, it's Doula, not me! She woke up and told me how much she loved your food and wanted you to make something for her." Jess grinned.

"She said that huh? It's nothing to do with the fact that you're hungry?" Luke smirked.

"Of course not! Although a burger wouldn't go amiss!" Jess smirked.

"So much work." He shook his head but disappeared into the kitchen.

"She's so cute!" Lane cooed over Doula.

"She likes you." Jess smiled as Doula gave her a toothy grin. "Want a hold?"

"Sure!" Lane smiled taking her off him. "Do you know how lucky you are to have Jess as your big brother huh? He's fighting for you."

"She's stuck with me more like. Not exactly lucky." Jess commented.

"Well I think she's lucky." Lane said smiling at him.

"Ok." Jess rolled his eyes. "Hey, Doula? This is Lane. You'll soon find out she is completely crazy!" He smirked.

"Hey!" Lane said indignantly.

Jess chuckled. "It's cool. It seems like Doula likes you anyway." He teased.

Lane just shook his head. "I take it back, Doula. Your brother is infuriating!" She joked.

"Thanks." Jess smirked. He suddenly saw Lane's expression change and he had to act quickly as Lane suddenly handed Doula back to him. "What is it?" He said confused.

"Rory..." Lane said getting up.

"Rory?" Jess said confused.

Lane gestured towards the door and Jess turned to see Rory standing there, staring at them, not saying anything.

"Rory..." Jess said quietly.

 **So I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think! :) Thanks again for all your support! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry for the delay! Work's been crazy busy this week and then I was out last night so I've literally had no time to write. Hope this was worth the wait. :)**

Chapter 9

"To what do we owe this spontaneous visit?" Jess said.

"Jess..." Lane warned.

"What? It was a joke. We all know why she's here." Jess said.

"Couldn't you be less of a jerk about it though?" Lane gave him a warning look.

"Don't worry, Lane. I'm used to all his jerk moves. Something you'll obviously find out in due course." Rory said crossing her arms against her chest.

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Rory." Jess smirked slightly.

"Look, can we just talk about this calmly?" Lane said. "We all know Dean told you about the kiss."

"I don't really want to talk about it. I'll just leave you to it. It looked like I was interrupting something anyway." She said turning towards the door.

"No, we're not doing this." Jess said getting up and locking the door, blocking her in.

"Seriously? You're really going to keep me hostage here?" Rory said.

"Not keeping you hostage. You came here on your own." He pointed out.

"Rory!" Luke suddenly appeared from the kitchen. "Did we know you were coming?"

"Uh..no..it was a spur of the moment thing." Rory said quietly.

"Oh right. Well your mom will be happy to see you." Luke smiled. "Here's your food." He told Lane and Jess, placing it down. He looked between them and stood there awkwardly. "Ok...well...I'll be upstairs." He said before disappearing upstairs.

"You're not leaving here until we talk this out. If you don't do it for me, do it for Lane." Jess told Rory.

"And why do you care about Lane so much?" Rory snapped.

"Because I've seen how worried she was about you finding about what happened. Rory, we were both freaked out by what happened. It meant nothing. And the first thing Lane thought about was you." Jess said.

"Oh yeah and kisses normally mean nothing." Rory said sarcastically.

"When you kissed me at Sookie's wedding, you told me to keep quiet and that it meant nothing. I mean, of course it did, because you were all over Dean the next minute." Jess retorted.

Rory did uncross her arms at that and slowly sat down at the table. "That kiss didn't mean nothing." She said quietly. "It just...it had to mean nothing. I was cheating on Dean. It wasn't me. I didn't recognise myself in that moment. Dean didn't deserve that."

"Can't we just leave all this in the past?" Lane suggested hesitantly. "I mean, you've moved on now. You're happy with Logan. Can't you just both let bygones be bygones?"

"Easy for you to say. You've never had a serious boyfriend in your life." Rory snapped but she regretted it as soon as she said it. "Lane, I'm..."

"So Dave was just casual then?" Lane said quietly.

"I didn't mean..." Rory tried. "I just meant..."

"I know exactly what you meant." Lane said hurt. "You meant that because I couldn't flaunt my relationship to the town which you always enjoyed doing, I wasn't serious about Dave. Well my mom's not as cool about these things as yours is. You know that."

"Lane, I'm sorry. I just...I want you to see that Jess isn't what you think he is. Yes, he could be seen as exciting or unpredictable but he messes you up and he screws up your relationship. Dean didn't deserve what Jess did. Constantly pursuing me like that." Rory said.

"Oh like you screwed up Lindsey's marriage, you mean." Lane retorted.

"Wait, what?" Jess said confused.

"Nothing." Rory said quickly.

Jess glanced at Rory who was avoiding his gaze and Lane who was staring at Rory, her arms crossed. "What do you mean, screwed up Lindsey's marriage? She's married to Dean right? That's what Luke told me."

"She was married to Dean." Lane said.

"Lane, please..." Rory said quietly.

"What, so you can hurt me and Jess but you expect me to be quiet about your flaws?" Lane retorted, getting angry. She turned to Jess. "Rory slept with Dean when he was married. He cheated on Lindsey with Rory and it broke up their marriage. Dean got divorced and then he and Rory got back together only for Rory to dump him for Logan."

"He dumped me!" Rory defended.

"Because he could see you were falling for someone else again." Lane said.

"Why are you being so mean?" Rory said.

"So you can be mean but I can't?" Lane retorted. She let out a big breath. "Look, Rory, the kiss between Jess and I meant nothing. It really did. Jess' head was in a bad place and well, I was there."

"Just like Shane was when I wouldn't break up with Dean for him." Rory mumbled.

"And who you were insanely jealous of." Jess pointed out. He looked at her. "I can't believe you slept with Dean..."

"It's got nothing to do with you." She said.

"You're right. It doesn't." Jess said. "But apparently everything I do does concern you so how does that work?"

"Because you're messing around with my best friend! I don't want you to hurt her!" Rory exclaimed.

"No. I just think that you don't want me to be with anyone else other than you." Jess said.

"I couldn't care less what you do." She snapped.

"Sure because that's convincing." Jess said.

"Jess, I don't love you anymore. I don't have feelings for you anymore. I love Logan, ok? So yes, I don't care less what you do with your life or who you do." She snapped.

"Great. So why the hell are we even having this conversation then?" Jess said.

Rory turned to Lane. "I thought you hated Jess. I just don't get how you can be such close friends now..." She said.

"I only hated him because he treated you badly." Lane said. "But as you've said, you've moved on now and are happy now. So why can't I be friends with him now? I never hated him. I didn't really know him."

"You just never seemed to want to get to know him." Rory said.

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt. That's what friends do." Lane said.

"That's why I'm trying to protect you now! I don't want you to get hurt like I did!" Rory said.

"Well you've changed your tune! What about the fact that you told me you weren't perfect either when we were together? Yes I made mistakes and I regret hurting you like that. But you weren't perfect." Jess said.

"Look, let's just calm down." Lane sighed. "Rory, Jess and I are friends. He gets on with Zach and Brian and he keeps me sane dealing with Taylor and Kirk here. But the kiss meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ok? So can we just leave it and go back to normal? We've both said things we've regretted tonight."

"Fine." Rory said quietly.

"Ok good." Lane said. "So?"

"I think I'm going to go see my mom." She said.

"So you can bitch about me." Jess snorted.

"Not everything is about you." Rory snapped.

"Don't worry, she's already given me a warning." Jess said dryly.

"Wait, what? Mom knew?" Rory said surprised.

"Only since yesterday." Lane said quickly.

"So who else knows?"

"Well seeing as Mrs Kim confronted me in Doose's, I'd say everyone in this town." Jess said.

"So everyone knew but me?"

"Because you didn't need to know." Lane said. "We didn't want you upset."

"Well...I am." Rory said. "I need to go." She said turning around. "Are you going to let me out or am I going to have to call the police?" She asked Jess sarcastically.

"Be my guest." Jess said. He shook his head as she left. "Well that went well." He said.

"You didn't exactly help the situation." Lane told him.

"What am I meant to say? Am I meant to sit here and let her attack me like she did? Yes, I've admitted I treated her badly and I made mistakes but it's in the past. I can't change what I did but she seems to never want me to forget it. How is that fair?" He said.

Lane sighed and sat back down. "It's not." She said.

Jess sighed. "I never wanted to hurt her. I want you to know that. I never want to be the reason she's upset." She said.

"I know." Lane said quietly, glancing at him.

"But I'm not going to let her make me feel bad about it anymore. She's moved on, I want to move on. I've got Doula to think about now. I don't need the hassle."

"She'll get over it. Just give her some time." Lane said.

"I don't think she'll ever get over it. She obviously just doesn't want me to be happy. Maybe I should just move with Doula now and do everyone a favour..." He mumbled, before getting up with Doula.

"Wait, what?" Lane said shocked.

"I always bring nothing but trouble here. Rory's obviously not happy that I'm back and I'm screwing with your life as well along with your friendship with Rory. I never wanted to do that. You don't deserve that. So maybe it's time I move on..." He shrugged.

"But where would you go?" Lane asked.

He shrugged. "I've not told anyone this before, not even Luke, but...well...I've been...I've been writing."

"Writing?"

"It started out just a bit of fun but it turned into...well, it seems to have turned into a story." Jess said glancing at the floor.

"You've written a book?" Lane asked surprised.

"Short novel." He corrected her. "Anyway, I..uh..this publishing company in Philadelphia want to publish it. And well, they've offered me a job and somewhere to live."

"But...I don't get it. You've been looking for jobs here. Why would you do that when you knew you had this job?" Lane said confused.

"I wanted to do best for Doula. I thought this town would be good for her. I wanted Luke in her life. But this town is never going to accept me." Jess said.

"Well...I think it's great." Lane said quietly.

Jess glanced at her. "You do?" He said hesitantly.

"You wrote a book, Jess. This is amazing." Lane smiled softly. "You deserve this opportunity. You should go for it."

"You really think so?" He asked quietly.

Lane glanced at him and hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, I think you should. It's too good to turn down."

"Then...maybe I will." Jess said, giving her a small smile. "Night Lane." He said softly.

"Night Jess." She said softly. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when he disappeared upstairs. She suddenly felt this big rage take hold of her and she stormed out of the diner.

* * *

"Is Rory here?" Lane asked when Lorelai opened the door.

"Uh..yeah. Are you ok?" Lorelai asked.

"Not really. Can I talk to her?" Lane asked.

"Lane?" Rory said appearing at the door.

"You think you're so perfect, don't you?" Lane demanded.

"What?" Rory said shocked.

"You think you're so perfect and that the world should revolve around you. But when something good happens to me, you can't just be happy for me, can you? You have to make it all about you!" She snapped.

"Lane, I don't know what..." Rory said shocked stepping outside with her.

"You know he's leaving?" Lane said.

"Who?"

"Who do you think? Jess! Jess is leaving! He thinks he's never going to be accepted here because of his past mistakes and he's leaving!" Lane snapped.

"Jess is leaving?" Rory said quietly.

"Like you care! Yes he's leaving because he's written a book and he's actually going to become an author! This publishing company in Phildaelphia want to publish it and he wants to go." Lane exclaimed. "He's leaving because he thinks he's not wanted here!"

"He's written a book?" Rory asked shocked.

"Yes, he's written a book. He calls it a short novel, though." Lane said.

"You seem...upset about it..." She said hesitantly.

"Yes I'm upset! Jess and I...we've become good friends and I know it's weird for you. I love you, Rory, ok? But you're at Yale now and I'm allowed to have other friends! I know it's weird that my new friend is Jess. I get that! But you've moved on! You should let him as well and stop dragging up the past because it's getting him down!" Lane said. "But I guess now it doesn't matter because I'm going to lose his friendship anyway because he's leaving! And I'm guessing he won't want to come back anytime soon."

"Lane, I'm..." Rory said shocked by the emotion in her friend's outburst.

Lane blinked back tears. "I'm sorry. I just...I'm sorry." She said before rushing off. She could hear Rory calling after her but she just kept running, leaving Rory standing there stunned.

* * *

Jess had put Doula down to sleep and had just finished eating dinner before sitting down to watch some tv. He glanced across at Luke's bed which was empty. He assumed he had snuck out to Lorelai's. He turned the tv on just as there was knocking on the door. He frowned and went over to open it. "Lane?" He said surprised.

"I..uh..I..." Lane said struggling to get her words out.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked concerned.

"Don't go!" Lane blurted out.

"What?" He said stunned.

"Please...don't go!" Lane said.

"But...I thought..." He started but was stopped by Lane's lips on his. She pulled away after a moment. "Uh...that was..." He said shocked.

"I'm sorry..." Lane said embarrassed. "I just...I..."

Jess slowly moved forward and kissed her again. "Let's just...Let's not talk right now." He said, before pulling her close to him.

 **So I know some are you aren't sure about the Jess/Lane pairing but I've got a lot of ideas for this so I hope you keep with me! Please keep the reviews coming as I love reading what you think. Thanks for all your support so far. It really does mean so much to me! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you so much for all your support for the last chapter! I'm glad you're keeping with me! :) Here's the next chapter! :)**

Chapter 10

Jess and Lane were kissing as Jess started pushing her towards his bed. Lane felt her legs hit the side of the bed and suddenly realised what was happening and pulled away.

"Oh god, what are we doing?" She exclaimed. "What just happened?"

"Well...you kissed me." Jess said with a slight smirk.

"Hey, you kissed me first!" Lane protested. "You're the one who started all these mixed up feelings!"

"You've got feelings for me?" Jess said.

"Urgh, I don't know! I don't know what just happened and I don't know what to do! I just don't know!" Lane groaned, going over to the couch and collapsing down into it, putting her head in her hands. "I don't know..." She said quietly.

Jess slowly went over and sat down next to her. "I get it. I don't exactly know what to think about this either." He admitted.

Lane glanced at him slowly. "You don't?" She asked quietly.

"Well I certainly never thought I'd be kissing my ex's best friend. I never thought we'd be friends, let alone this." Jess said. "Remember when you hated me? At least we knew where we stood then." He joked slightly.

Lane smiled slightly. "I never hated you." She said.

"You didn't like me though." Jess said.

"Only because you'd treated Rory badly in the past. Urgh, Rory! We tell her that kiss meant nothing and now...urgh, what are we going to do?" She exclaimed.

"I don't know." He admitted. He glanced at her. "I guess...I guess we need to figure out how we really feel." He said slowly.

"I guess..." Lane said quietly. She glanced at him. "So how do you really feel?"

"Geez I have no idea!" Jess said smirking slightly.

Lane smiled at that. "Yeah, me too." She admitted.

"Well we obviously feel something considering what just happened." Jess said slowly. "But..."

"It's complicated, yeah." Lane sighed. "I think I should go..."

"Yeah maybe that's best." Jess nodded.

"See you tomorrow?" Lane checked.

"I'll be the one winding up Taylor and Kirk." He smirked.

Lane smirked. "Night Jess."

"Night." He said, letting out a breath after she left. He put his head on his hands. _What the hell just happened?_

* * *

Luke couldn't help watching Jess and Lane all morning, the following day. They weren't joking around like they usually did and when they brushed past each other or bumped into each other, they would jump apart like shrapnel and act all awkward. He was wondering whether it was something to do with Rory's impromptu visit. When Lane went on her break, he pulled Jess to one side. "Ok, what's going on?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Jess said.

"You and Lane. One day, you're thick as thieves and today you're jumping apart even when you just slightly brush past each other. Is this to do with Rory?" He said.

"Not everything's to do with Rory." Jess grumbled.

"Then what is it? Did you two have a fight or something?" Luke said confused.

Jess glanced at everyone in the diner and back at Luke. "Can we talk about this later?"

"No, we can't. Because it's affecting your work and my business." Luke said.

Jess groaned but grabbed Luke's arm and dragged him behind the curtain to the stairs so they didn't have an audience. "We kissed." He told him.

"Yeah...everyone already knows that." Luke said.

"No, we kissed again. Last night." Jess told him.

"What?" Luke said surprised.

"It wasn't exactly planned but suddenly Lane was at my door telling me not to leave and suddenly...well, we were kissing again." Jess mumbled.

"Leaving? Since when were you leaving?" Luke frowned.

"It's a long story." Jess sighed. "But we kissed again and neither of us know what to think about it or what to do about it."

"Wow...uh..ok...Well...do you like her?" Luke said awkwardly.

"Can we not talk about this?" Jess said.

"Jess, you're going to have to deal with it at some point. It happened, you can't change that." Luke pointed out.

"Geez, don't you think I know that?!" Jess exclaimed. "But it's Lane! It's...complicated."

"Because of Rory." Luke guessed.

"Yeah. Because of Rory." Jess said quietly. "But not just her. Wouldn't it be weird, me and Lane?"

Luke thought for a moment. "Not if it's something you and Lane really want." He shrugged.

"But she's Rory's best friend..."

"You told me you and Rory were ancient history." Luke said.

"We are." He said quickly.

"Well then...it shouldn't really matter."

"Lorelai would kill me." Jess said.

"Jess..."

"Plus Mrs Kim..."

"Jess..."

"Plus the whole town would probably arrange a lynch mob for betraying Rory." Jess continued.

"Jess!" Luke exclaimed.

"What?" Jess exclaimed.

"Do you like Lane? Do you think you might have feelings for her?" Luke asked softly.

"I don't know." He said honestly, glancing at the ground. "It's all happened so quickly. I mean, of course we knew each other before when I lived here with you but we never really talked. And now...it's only been a week and we've become friends. Good friends. And we have a lot in common."

"And you've kissed twice." Luke pointed out.

"Gee thanks for pointing out the obvious, Uncle Luke." Jess said dryly.

"I'm just saying, it must mean something. You don't just go round kissing someone for the hell of it." He said.

Jess sighed and glanced at him. "I don't know what to do." He admitted.

"Well...I think you need to talk to Lane. Like properly talk to her. Sort this out." Luke said. "Otherwise it's going to drive you crazy."

"Yeah..." Jess sighed. "I'll..uh...I'll talk to her after our shift."

"Good." Luke nodded.

Jess glanced at him. "Why are you so bothered about this? I would have thought you'd be against me and Lane."

Luke shrugged. "I just want you to be happy." He said. "If Lane makes you happy, then nothing else should matter."

Jess nodded and watched as Luke started to turn to head back to the diner. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." He said quietly.

* * *

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!" Lane exclaimed as she got back to hers to grab something for lunch before heading back to the diner.

"What's wrong?" Brian asked.

"Oh...sorry, I didn't notice you guys there." She said embarrassed, when she saw Brian and Zach sat on the bean bags playing a video game.

"Is everything ok?" Brian asked.

"Oh yeah, everything's fine." She lied.

"Ok." Brian said focusing back on the tv.

Lane sighed. "Actually...uh...can I talk to you bout something?"

"Sure. Just after I thrash Brian on this." Zach said distracted.

"No, now please. I don't have long for my break. Please?" Lane said desperately.

Brian and Zach exchanged a glance when they heard the desperation in her voice. Brian paused the game. "Sure." He said.

Lane took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. "Jess and I kissed." She said.

Zach looked at her for a moment. "Yeah...we know that." He said.

"No, I mean, we kissed again." Lane admitted. "Last night."

"Oh." Zach said.

"Did you kiss him or did he kiss you?" Brian asked.

"Why does that matter?" Lane said.

"I don't know. Just seemed like something I should ask." Brian shrugged.

"I kissed him." She said quietly.

"What, so are you two like a couple now then?" Zach said.

"No!" She said quickly. "I mean...well...I don't know. I don't think either of us really know what to think. That's why I'm talking to you guys to see what you think."

"You're asking for our advice?" Zach asked.

"Yeah..."

"Seriously?" He said surprised.

"Zach!" Lane exclaimed.

"Lane, just calm down." Brian said. "So you and Jess kissed again?"

"Yeah..."

"Well...do you like him that way?" He asked.

"I don't know..." She said.

"You must know. How can you not know whether you like him or not?" Zach said confused.

"So you know whether you have feelings for all those girls you hook up with?" She retorted.

"Good point." Zach said.

Lane sighed. "I need your advice. Please. I don't know what to do."

"I think you need to figure out whether you like him or not." Brian said.

"But even if I do, it's complicated!" Lane said.

"Because of Rory?" Brian guessed.

"Yeah..." She said quietly.

"Well if she can't be happy for you, she's not a very good friend." Zach commented.

"Zach!" Lane frowned.

"No Lane, he's actually right about this. If you and Jess have...developed feelings for each other, why should it matter what Rory thinks about it?" Brian said.

"Because it's a rule! You don't date your friend's exes!" Lane exclaimed.

"That's a stupid rule." Zach said.

"But I thought Rory's moved on. She's with that Logan guy right?" Brian said.

"Well...yeah..."

"Then why would she care who Jess dates?"

"Because...well...she just would." Lane sighed.

"Then I stand by my comment that she's not a very good friend then." Zach shrugged. "If she can't be happy for you, then she doesn't deserve you."

"Zach's right." Brian said hesitantly. "I know Rory's stood by you through a lot and you've been there for her as well but if you and Jess make each other happy, she shouldn't stand in your way. She shouldn't be the reason you throw your happiness away."

"You really think so?" She asked quietly.

"We like Jess. If he makes you happy, then we think it's cool. And hey, if you get any backlash from anyone, you've got two friends here who will have your back." Brian smiled.

Lane smiled tremulously. "Thanks guys." She said softly.

"No problem." Zach said restarting the game and focusing on the tv again.

* * *

"So...got any plans for today?" Lorelai asked Rory who was sat on the couch in the living room.

"Not really." She shrugged.

Lorelai sighed. "Hon, is this really worth losing Lane over?" She said.

"They kissed!" Rory exclaimed.

"Yeah I know. But they said it didn't mean anything. We all do stupid things in the moment, don't we? Rational thought isn't always there for us." Lorelai pointed out.

"Why does everyone always have to bring up Dean? And why are you suddenly taking Jess' side over this?" She demanded.

"I'm not." Lorelai said calmly. "I just don't understand why you're so upset about this..."

"Because he kissed Lane! I don't want him to screw up her life like he did to me! I don't want her getting hurt!" Rory exclaimed.

"Is it the fact that Jess kissed Lane or is it the fact that he's kissing someone who isn't you?" Lorelai said cautiously.

"What? No!" Rory exclaimed. "How could you even think that? I'm with Logan! I love Logan!"

"Ok." Lorelai said. "I just had to ask." She sighed. "Look, I have to get to work, sorry hon. But it was just a stupid kiss. Is it worth losing your friendship with Lane over? They say it didn't mean anything so why not give them the benefit of the doubt?"

Rory just shrugged.

"Well...it's your choice. But I'd hate to see you and Lane fall out over this." She said softly. "I'll see you later."

Rory just nodded and listened to her mom leaving, letting out a big breath when she did.

* * *

"Are you two ok closing up?" Luke asked Jess and Lane later that evening.

"Yeah." Jess said.

"Sure." Lane nodded.

"Thanks. I'll go check on Doula." He said.

"Thanks." Jess said watching him head upstairs. He then glanced over at Lane. "I'm guessing that's his way of getting us to talk..." He said.

"He knows?" Lane said surprised.

"He cornered me." Jess said. "He wanted to know why we were acting so weird earlier." He told her.

"Oh." Lane said quietly.

"It's ok I told him right?" He checked.

"Yeah it's fine. I told Zach and Brian." She admitted.

"You did?" He said.

"I kind of needed some advice." She said.

"From Zach and Brian?" Jess said smirking slightly.

"I was desperate." Lane laughed slightly. "They actually helped a bit though." She admitted.

"Yeah?" Jess said glancing at him.

"Yeah." She said focusing on the counter she was wiping. "I know everything's happened so quickly but I know I've enjoyed hanging out with you and we have quite a bit in common. I don't know exactly how to feel about all that has happened but I think..maybe..I might want something to happen between us..." She said nervously, still avoiding his gaze.

"I feel the same." Jess said awkwardly.

"You do?" Lane said quietly, finally glancing over at him.

"I enjoy hanging out with you as well." He said. "I know it's a weird situation but...I think it could be good too..."

Lane smiled slightly. "Yeah, I think it could be too..." She said quietly. "But...maybe we should take it slow? See how things go?"

"Sounds good." He nodded. He glanced at her. "What about...?"

"We'll have to deal with that later." Lane said knowing he was thinking about Rory. Zach and Brian were right. Why should she throw away potential happiness just for Rory? It wasn't fair.

"Ok." Jess said. "So...I guess we should finish closing up?"

"Yeah we should. And then maybe I should head back to mine. And then we can talk more tomorrow?" She said.

"Ok." He nodded.

"Ok." She said, finishing wiping the counter and then putting the chairs up onto the tables.

Jess finished with the mopping, glancing at Lane every so often. He glanced back at the mop and suddenly smirked. He flicked the mop upwards covering Lane with soapy water.

"Jess!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry, I slipped." He smirked.

"I can't believe you did that!" She exclaimed. "I'm soaked!"

"Well maybe you should come up and dry off then.." He smirked.

"But we said..." Lane said.

"I know, take it slow. But Luke's up there remember? I doubt anything's going to happen with him there, is it?" He smirked.

"Oh...yeah..." She said blushing slightly.

"Let's go then." He said.

"Wait a minute, I've just got to do something first." Lane said.

"What?"

"This." She grinned, picking up the bucket of soapy water and throwing it over Jess.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"Payback." She grinned. "Guess we'll both need to dry off now."

"Guess so." Jess chuckled. "Come on." He said grabbing Lane's hand. "I don't know how we're going to explain this to Luke though."

Lane laughed. "How about your excuse of we slipped?" She grinned.

"Could work." He smirked as they disappeared off the stairs.

Little did they know that they were being watched from outside. Rory stood there for a moment before slowly turning around and walking away form the diner.

 **So I hope you liked it! :) Please keep the reviews coming as I really do love reading what you all think! :) Thanks again for your continued support! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm so so sorry for the long wait! I had family round at the weekend and then I got ill this week so haven't had any time to write at all. Hope you're all still with me though and hope this was worth the wait. :)**

Chapter 11

The following day, Jess looked up as Lane arrived for her afternoon shift and smiled. "Hey." He said.

"Hi." She smiled slightly.

Jess watched as she started taking orders and filling up the coffee jug. He slowly went up to her. "So...what are you doing tonight?" He asked.

"Nothing. Why?" Lane asked.

"I'm taking you out." Jess said.

"Like on a date?" She said smirking slightly.

"If that's what you want to call it. I was thinking we could hang out at the music store and then maybe catch a movie." He said. "You up for it?"

Lane was quiet for a moment. "What about Doula?"

"I was going to ask Luke if he and Lorelai could watch her. If not, I guess I could always bring her along. If that's ok with you." Jess glanced at her.

"I don't mind." She smiled.

"Great. So...pick you up at 7?" He said.

"Sounds good." Lane nodded and went off to take some food to customers. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face though. It slowly faded when she spotted Rory and Logan walking towards the diner. She quickly walked back to Jess. "Did you know Logan was here too? I thought she came alone." She said.

"Nope." Jess said watching them. "I'm thinking Rory wants to make a point though..."

Lane glanced at him. "Are you ok?" She asked hesitantly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jess said as Rory and Logan entered the diner and walked up to the counter.

"Can we have a table for two please?" Rory said. "For me and Logan."

"Now, Rory, you've come here long enough to know you just choose a table yourself." Jess said. "Take your pick."

"Yeah but..." Rory said.

"How about the table by the window?" Lane suggested, taking over. "I'll be over in a minute to take your orders." She smiled.

"Thanks." Logan smiled.

"She's so trying to make a point." Jess told Lane.

"Well at least she's still talking to us." Lane said. "Well until she finds out we've got a date tonight." She sighed.

"Date huh? So it is a date?" Jess smirked slightly.

"You're impossible, you know that right?" Lane shook her head.

"I try." He smirked.

Lane just shook her head but smirked. "I'll go take their orders." She said heading over to Rory and Logan.

Jess glanced over at them and he saw Rory quickly look away when he looked over. He just shook his head and disappeared into the kitchen.

* * *

Jess waited for a moment before knocking on Lane's door that evening. "Hey.." He said awkwardly as Brian opened the door.

"Oh hi Jess." Brian smiled. "Come on in. Lane's nearly ready."

"Thanks." He said gruffly, going inside.

"Hey dude." Zach said from the bean bag.

"Hey." Jess nodded. "So...Lane's nearly ready?" He asked.

"Nearly." Brian nodded.

Zach glanced over at him. "So...this thing with you and Lane? Is it for real or are you doing it to make Rory jealous?"

"What?" Jess said surprised. He saw Brian avoid his gaze slightly as well. "You really think that?"

"We just have to ask. Lane...well she's actually really happy at the moment and we think that might be down to you. We just don't want her to get hurt." Brian said.

"So, are you?" Zach asked.

"No." Jess said. "Rory and I are over. She's moved on and hopefully...hopefully I can too. I really like Lane. I'd never want to hurt her."

"That's all we needed to know." Brian smiled. "Right?" He said to Zach.

"Right." Zach nodded.

"Hey!" Lane suddenly appeared from her room.

"Hey.." Jess said. "You..uh..you look nice." He said.

"Thanks." Lane smiled, blushing slightly. "You ready?"

"Let's go." Jess nodded.

* * *

"So your idea of a date was to take me where we work?" Lane teased as they were sat at a table in the diner, tucking into some food Jess had made.

"This is just sustenance. We've still got the movie." He pointed out.

"True." She nodded. She glanced up at him. "Can I ask you something?" She said hesitantly.

"Sure." He said.

"It's kind of personal..." She admitted.

"I don't mind." He shrugged.

"Well...I know we agreed not to mention Rory but it always confused me. Why did you run away without even saying goodbye to her? You did everything to get her, why just throw it away like that? I didn't understand that. I mean...I know you loved her..." Lane said awkwardly.

Jess sighed. "It's complicated."

"Ok." Lane said quietly.

Jess glanced at her and sighed. "I'd screwed up. I wasn't graduating and Luke wanted me out of the apartment. And then my father decided to show up in my life again and I suddenly saw this out. Rory and I...well, we were going through some things at the time. I just...I know it was wrong. I should have talked to her. I was a coward." He admitted. "I think I just thought in that moment that she deserved someone better and I could make that choice for her. I wasn't proud of it but...I can't change that now."

"Do you still have feelings for her?" Lane asked hesitantly.

"What?" He said surprised.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly. "I just...if we...if you and I...if something were to happen between us, I just...I need to know." She said nervously.

Jess sighed. "Rory will always be important to me. She was one of the first people to ever believe in me. I will always care about her. But...we were never meant to be. She's got Logan now." He said.

Lane nodded. "You really think you weren't meant to be?"

"The timing's never been right. Rory deserves someone like...like Logan." He shrugged.

"And what about you? What do you deserve?" Lane asked cautiously.

Jess glanced at her. "Well I'm hoping I deserve someone like you but I guess I'll leave that up to you to decide."

Lane smiled slightly. "Well...I happen to think I deserve someone like you as well."

Jess smirked slightly. "Glad we're in agreement."

Lane was quiet for a moment, tucking into her food, before looking back up at him. "Do you think this could really work? You and me. The whole town will be against us. Rory...well I don't know how she will react..."

"The whole town's against me anyway." Jess said. "And Rory...well, I'm sure she'll get over it."

"You really think so?" Lane asked quietly.

Jess saw the worry in her face. "Look, if Rory is truly your friend, she'll learn to be happy for you. I get that it's weird. I do know that. But you've been best friends since you were young. This shouldn't stand in your way. And if she lets it, well...maybe she's not such a good friend." He said.

"That's what Zach and Brian said." Lane sighed.

"Yeah?" Jess said surprised.

"Yeah." Lane said.

"You know, they gave me a warning earlier." Jess said.

"What?" Lane said surprised.

"Yup. They asked if I was just doing this to make Rory jealous. They said they didn't want to see you get hurt." Jess nodded.

"Oh my god, that's so embarrassing!" Lane exclaimed.

"Nah, it's ok. They were just looking out for you. They're good friends." Jess smiled.

Lane smiled slightly. "Yeah. I guess they are." She said softly. "So...what did you say?"

"That Rory and I were over and that the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt you." He said.

Lane smiled. "Really?"

"Although I have to say, there is one person who will always beat you if things do happen." Jess said.

"Who?" Lane asked nervously.

"Doula." Jess smirked.

Lane let out a relieved laugh. "Well I think I could cope with that."

"Yeah?" Jess said glancing at her. "Because she has to be my priority. It would be the same if I'd decided to start a relationship with anyone. She needs me and I want to be there for her..."

"Jess, I get it. She's your sister. Family always comes first." Lane assured him.

Jess smiled relieved. "Thanks." He said.

"Doula's sweet." Lane smiled.

"So...have I passed your questioning? Can I move you onto the next part of the date?" Jess smirked.

"I think you did well." Lane nodded solemnly. "Let's go." She grinned.

They left the diner and were walking towards the movie theatre when they bumped into Rory and Logan.

"Oh hey!" Lane said.

"Hi." Rory said glancing between them. "What are you two up to?" She asked casually.

"Just going to catch a movie." Jess said. "I didn't realise you were in town. Did you arrive this morning?" He asked Logan.

"Rory invited me last night." Logan nodded.

"Right." Jess said glancing at Rory.

"Is that a problem?" Rory said, deliberately linking her arm through Logan's.

"Why would it be a problem?" Jess said.

"So you two look cosy..." She said.

"We're just catching a movie." Lane repeated awkwardly what Jess said. "A movie which we're probably going to miss if we don't hurry." She said glancing at Jess.

"Yeah. Let's go." Jess said.

"Well we were going to see a movie too. Mind if we join you?" Rory said suddenly.

"I thought we were going to get some food." Logan said confused.

"We can get food there." Rory said. "Come on, a movie will be fun!"

"Ok..." Logan said still confused as Rory dragged him after Jess and Lane.

* * *

"So...this is awkward..." Lane whispered to Jess as they were sat on the big red couch next to Rory and Logan. Rory had insisted on joining them.

"Tell me about it." Jess whispered back. "Do you think I could fake a phone call from Luke and we could get out of here?" He smirked.

Lane smirked slightly. "I think Rory would see right through that."

"You're probably right." He smirked.

"Excuse me, some people are trying to watch the movie." Rory said.

"Unbelievable." Jess muttered.

"What did you say?" Rory demanded.

"I said it was unbelievable." Jess snapped. "I'm going to get us some more popcorn." He told Lane.

"I'm going too." Rory said getting up and following Jess.

Lane glanced across at Logan awkwardly. "So...the movie's good huh?" She said.

"What the hell is your problem?" Jess demanded as they went up to get more popcorn.

"What? I haven't done anything!" Rory exclaimed. "You're the one lying to me!"

"What am I lying about? Lane and I wanted to catch a movie and you and Logan just barged into our evening!" Jess exclaimed.

"Catch a movie? Yeah right!" She snorted.

"What is your problem?" He exclaimed.

"I know ok? I know you and Lane are on a date! I saw you last night in the diner heading up to the apartment together! And catching a movie? You never just do that with friends!" Rory snapped.

Jess took a big breath. "Ok. Fine. Lane and I are on a date. Happy now?" He said.

"No! You lied to me! You told me that kiss meant nothing!" Rory said angrily.

"It didn't. At that time." Jess said. "But a lot has happened since then and well...we've realised we enjoy hanging out with each other. Why do you care so much anyway? You're the one parading Logan infront of us! Why do you care what we're doing?"

"I don't!" Rory exclaimed.

"Right..." Jess said not believing her.

"Do you really think the only person I can think about is you? Cocky much?" Rory retorted. "The only person I think of is Logan. End of."

"Oh yeah? Then why have you abandoned him to come and tear a piece out of me?" Jess challenged.

"Because you're just doing this to rile me up! You're using Lane to make me jealous! It's sick!" Rory exclaimed.

"Wow, now who's making it all about themselves?" Jess snorted.

"Go to hell!" Rory snapped.

"Right back at you." Jess retorted. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my date. Away from my jealous ex." He snapped going back to where Lane and Logan were. "Come on, we're leaving." He told Lane.

"What, why?" Lane said getting up.

"Don't like the company here." Jess said as Rory rejoined them.

"Likewise." Rory snapped, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Well you were the one who insisted on joining us." Jess said. "Come on." He told Lane.

Lane nodded and started to follow Jess.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. And don't think I'm going to be there for you when you think you can come crying on my shoulder when it all goes wrong. Because it will. It always does with Jess." Rory said spitefully.

"Thanks. But I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions." Lane said before leaving with Jess, leaving Rory stood there angrily.

Rory glanced at Logan who was staring at her. "What?"

"What the hell was that?" He demanded.

* * *

"So...I'm guessing Rory knows about us?" Lane said quietly as they walked through the square.

"You could say that." He said.

"And...she wasn't happy?" She guessed.

"She accused me of using you to make her jealous." Jess said.

"Oh." Lane said quietly.

Jess glanced at her. "I'm not." He said. "I wouldn't do that." He said.

"You used Shane to make her jealous before." Lane pointed out.

"That was different. I wanted her then. I don't want her now. Why would I want someone who thinks so badly of me?" He said.

Lane sighed. "I'm sorry." She said softly.

"It's not your fault." He said. He sighed. "Sorry it was such a crappy date."

"It wasn't all crappy." Lane said. "You still make the best cheeseburger. Although don't tell Luke I said that." She joked.

Jess smirked slightly. "Your secret's safe with me."

He slowly walked Lane back to hers, the two of them grabbing a coffee on the way. They stopped infront of the front door to Lane's place.

"So...it's been fun while it lasted huh?" Jess said.

"What?" Lane said surprised.

"Well...I'm sort of guessing you don't want all this drama. I never wanted to come between you and Rory." He sighed.

"I'm guessing you really don't know me at all then." Lane said.

"What do you mean?" Jess frowned.

"Jess, my whole life has been a drama." Lane laughed slightly. "I've literally had to hide who I am from my mom my whole life. I'm finally free to be who I want to be and I'm happy. I'm really happy. And you're part of that now. I know this has happened quite quickly but I guess sometimes you just know right?" She said.

"I guess..." Jess said.

"So what's a bit more drama?" Lane said softly. "I can deal with Rory. I've had to do it before. You act like we've never had fights before but we have. I'll deal with it ok? But if you're asking whether she's put me off. Well she hasn't." She said. "Has she put you off?"

Jess smiled and leaned forward to kiss her. "Has that answered your question?" He smirked.

Lane smirked. "Completely." She said leaning in to copy his action.

"See you tomorrow?" Jess said as they pulled away from the kiss.

"You can bet on it." Lane smiled.

"Night Lane." He smiled.

"Night Jess." She grinned.

 **So what do you think? I hope you liked it! :) Thank you so much for all your support so far! I really hope you're all still with me. Please keep the reviews coming as I love reading what you think. :) They really do mean so much to me.**


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